


Day Dreaming

by rainbowdoves



Series: Day Dreaming [1]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Coming Out, Eventual Fluff, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mild Language, POV First Person, but clay doesnt, crosspost from wattpad, george has a functional family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:49:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 58,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29768877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowdoves/pseuds/rainbowdoves
Summary: For years, George and Clay have been close friends. They've been through years of school together, but after the former catches feelings for the other, he's worried things will fall apart. When they go on a school trip lasting for a week, then, he's worried the truth will come out. But that might not be such a bad thing...
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF)
Series: Day Dreaming [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2187900
Comments: 3
Kudos: 43





	1. Author's Note

This story is a work of fiction. If either George or Dream is uncomfortable with it or fanfiction in general, I'll take it down without hesitation. I am aware that they've said they're okay with it, but they are entitled to change their mind. What's also fiction is the events, relationships, and personalities of characters (primarily Dream/Clay and George). Please do not use this (or other fanfictions) as a way to harass them or ask if they are dating. I would hate it if this ship became a source of separation between them, as they have a truly special friendship. Overall, please remember that they're real people.

Any TWs specific to a chapter at the top of the chapter. However, these are only in a few chapters and there are no other major TWs outside of them.

Other warnings include strong language and mild spice/sexual jokes. Please be aware that these characters are minors (both main characters are 16), so if the idea of them in these contexts makes you uncomfortable, please do not read.

There is a character in this book named Alex, an OC who serves to replace a6d, who was previously in the story. However, he is not related to Quackity.

This book is crossposted from Wattpad. You can find it at <https://www.wattpad.com/story/228298522-day-dreaming-dreamnotfound-gream>


	2. Up And Coming

"George!"

I'm jolted out of my daydream by the sharp and stern voice of my crusty science teacher calling my name. "Yeah?" I say, annoyed.

She scoffs. "Now that someone has decided to join us, I need to hand out the lists and information for next week's trip. As it's so long, y'all are going to need a lot. Since you clearly have nothing better to do, George, why don't you come up here and pass them out?"

Groaning internally, I drudge up to the front. I sloppily pass out the two page packets printed on green paper, not paying any notice to who I toss them to. However, my breath catches in my chest as I pass by my long time best friend and now crush - Clay.

His dirty blond hair fell onto his smiling face. We'd known each other for years - ever since middle school - but I only just now started having feelings for him. The worst part is that he's admitted he's straight and has had a girlfriend. Shaking off these thoughts, I hand him a packet and continue with the rest before returning to my seat.

My teacher's raspy voice rang out again. "As you will see, you're going to need a sleeping bag. We will stay in a camp building for the first night, but every night following will be spent in a tent. Please bring 5 changes of clothes. You may bring a bathing suit if you're going to swim..."

I spaced out, staring at Clay's face. He was doodling something in his notebook. We'd gone through everything we're bringing about 5 times before - nobody cared anymore. Finally, the bell rang, meaning it was time for lunch.

One of my friends, Bri, approached me as I was getting ready for lunch. "We're going to have lunch with Mrs. Blaire. Do you want to come?" she asked.

"Oh, um..." I looked over at Clay, who was walking away alone. "No thanks. Might be awkward."

"Okay. See you later, sis." She skipped away towards our homeroom.

I caught up to Clay, walking at his side. "Hey," he said, smiling.

"Hi," I responded.

After a beat of awkward silence, he spoke up again. "Well, I'm going to McDonalds. Wanna come with?"

"Sure. I had nothing else to eat anyway." This was true - I didn't pack my lunch today, mostly because I woke up too late. Normally I'd just skip lunch for the day, but I'm always willing to eat.

We waltz out of the school and stroll down the street to the iconic golden arches. As we enter, I recognize a few people, albeit not many. One person in particular comes up and greets us.

"Oh, hi guys!" he said.

"Hey, Nick," Clay grinned. Nick is one of my few straight guy friends, and when I have those, we're close. He's goofy, with messy dark blonde hair. He cracks lots of inappropriate jokes about Clay and I, although I appreciate them less now. At the moment, he was munching on some chicken nuggets.

Clay and I went up to order, and once the food was done, we sat down with Nick, chatting about the upcoming trip.

"So who's rooming with who? It's like, six to a room, but then three to a tent, or..?" he asked, sipping from a cup.

"I think so, yeah. I guess the three of us?" Clay suggested.

"Only if you two are fine with it," I sighed. I had already accepted that I'd probably have to room with some other random guys because they had us seperated by gender for obvious reasons.

"Why wouldn't we be? You're our friend," Nick said. Clay nodded.

"You know why," I giggled. "But if you're really okay with it, sure."

"Of course we're fine with it, silly," Nick said dismissively.

We talked some more before finishing up our unhealthy lunch and returning to the school building. The rest of the day went by quickly and soon, we were out for the weekend. I hopped off the bus and into my empty home, save for my tabby cat, who purred and walked up to me. "Baby," I cooed, rubbing his back. I dropped off my bag in the kitchen before heading upstairs for my room. Our townhouse was small, but thankfully, there were two bedrooms. I booted up my PC and opened Discord, checking out a few servers before inevitably being stuck on my class's server with nothing to do.

I had no new messages at the moment, so I decided just to play Minecraft. Then I got a notification from Discord that was a ping from my teacher. Everybody who was in the class server agreed she was cool, including myself; she rarely cared about language and was as good friends with students as a teacher could be without the FBI getting involved. So we invited her.

I looked at the message and was disappointed to learn that she was just reminding us about the trip next week. Sighing, I return my attention to Minecraft. I was in the mood for survival, but I didn't want to play my current world. I decided that I would just start a new one before thinking I might as well invite Clay and Nick. I opened our group chat and invited them to play.

 **GeorgeNotFound** _Today at 3:40 PM_  
u guys wanna start a survival world  
on mc

After a while, Clay answered.

 **dream** _Today at 3:42 PM_  
sure  
u hosting

 **GeorgeNotFound** _Today at 3:42 PM_  
alr  
see you in a bit

I started the world and started the server, eagerly waiting for my crush- er, best friend- to join.

Soon, the chat read, "Dream joined the game." Smiling, I started a Discord call. Clay picked up quickly, but it was ringing on Nick for a while, who strangely didn't pick up. I didn't think too much of it - he did say he took naps after school.

"What's up?" I ask.

"We need to get wood," he said simply. I made a noise of general agreement and started punching a tree. Once we had enough logs, I made a crafting bench and some sticks, using the crafting bench to make a pickaxe. We got enough stone for tools for both of us and a couple of furnaces before wandering off elsewhere.

"I wish we could find a cave. It's gonna be night soon and we don't have iron," Clay complained, sprinting around.

"We need food too."

"Then why don't you get food and I'll find a cave?" he suggested, breaking some tall grass.

"Alright." I went on a different path, towards a plains biome, where a group of about 6 cows were grazing. After commiting homicide on virtual animals and reuniting with Clay in a newly found cave, we looked at our situation.

"We're doing well for now. Both of us have iron stuff and a shield, and I need a bucket. There was a lava pool back that way."

"Nice. Um, how exactly does that help us?"

"Don't tell me you've never done the portal trick?" he asked, genuinely shocked. "I'll need to show you."

"Portal trick? What?" I giggled, punching his avatar. He punched me back before grabbing the remaining iron and crafting more tools and armor, leaving me with full iron besides a leather cap and him in completely full iron. He led me back to a lava lake in the plains biome where I was earlier before pulling out some cobblestone.

"Observe," he said simply. I watched in awe as Clay constructed a nether portal in under 10 seconds with just a lava lake and a bucket of water. He grabbed the remaining water and waited for it to drain.

"How'd you get so good at that?" I asked, impressed.

"Practice. I've tried speedrunning a few times and you kinda need to do that to save on time."

"Huh. Is it really that easy?"

"God no. Took me a while just to do it without covering up the lava pool. Anyway, let's go to the Nether!"

We played for a while more through an easy Nether and ended off with 8 blaze rods. Clay said he had to go, so we logged off for the day. I stared at the relaxing title screen, contemplating what to do.

Bored and a little breathless from playing 3 hours of minecraft with my crush, I did what everyone does.

Ctrl + Shift + N.


	3. Preparations

I woke up late Saturday morning with a few texts from Clay. Rubbing my eyes, I looked through them.

 **Clay:** can we go supply shopping  
 **Clay:** i havent bought any of the shit we need and i really dont want to do it with my parents

While I had most of my stuff, there were a few more things I could do with, so I decide to accept.

 **George:** ok  
 **George:** i need to grab some breakfast first tho  
 **George:** where r we going

I went downstairs to make myself some microwave pancakes while waiting for his response. My dad sat in the adjacent living room, watching the news. The lingering smell of coffee filled the air. "Morning," he smiled, petting the cat curled up in his lap.

"Morning!" I said, taking the pancakes out of the microwave. "I'm going out later. Where's Mom?"

My father sighed. "She got called in again. She'll be back at noon-ish."

I nodded understandingly, pouring some syrup on my plate. I dug in to the pancakes, still waiting for my phone to go off. However, it didn't. Only after rinsing off the plate and putting it away did Clay repsond.

 **Clay:** i was thinking about going to lakeland  
 **Clay:** they have the sporting goods and macys  
 **George:** ok i can walk there  
 **Clay:** are u sure  
 **Clay:** i have my permit  
 **George:** i dont wanna make you  
 **George:** plus it's only like 10 min  
 **Clay:** but theres a ton of crosswalks and stuff  
 **Clay:** im already on my way to your house so you cant deny now😇  
 **George:** fine

Smiling goofily, I put my phone away. "Got a boyfriend?" my dad joked.

My smile turns into a scowl before I say, "No, it's just Clay."

"I didn't say it wasn't him," he chuckled before going back to the news. Face burning red, I go back upstairs to put some clothes on. I don't wear anything fancy - just a blue shirt and some jeans. I tried flattening out my mess of brown hair, managing to smooth it to the side. After a couple of minutes of waiting outside, I saw Clay pull up in his crossover, rolling down the window.

"Hi," he called. "Get in. Nick's here too, so you're in the back."

"Alright," I sighed, climbing into the backseat. It's strange how foreign other people's cars smell - you just get so used to your own, I suppose. Nick was leaning his head on his arm, nearly drifting off. "How're things, Nick?" I asked.

"Tired. Clay dragged me out here," he yawned.

"Did not. You said you didn't have any stuff either," Clay giggled

"I did, but I didn't need you to take me shopping." He sat up, rolling his eyes.

Clay took a right out of my neighborhood. "You said you wanted to. What's the difference?"

"But why can't you let me procastinate in peace?" Nick protested.

"Just stop arguing. What do you guys even need to get?" I asked, annoyed.

Clay considered for a while before listing. "Sleeping bags definitely. I'll be needing a flashlight. Most of the rest of the stuff is clothes."

"That's like nothing. Why are we even going out?" Nick groaned.

"I kinda just wanted to get out of my house," Clay sighed. Nick opened his mouth as if to speak, but closed it, as if he changed his mind. There was an awkward silence in the air as Clay drove us the rest of the way to the mall. This seemed to break, though, as we got out of the car and entered the mall.

We started cracking jokes and overall acting silly as we made our way upstairs to where the sporting goods was. The camping section was in the far corner, but nobody was shopping there, so we were loudly pointing out things that interested us. By this time, we had already gotten most everything we needed.

"Who even needs a cooler that big?" Clay wheezed, looking at one of the coolers on the upper shelf. Indeed, it was nearly the size of a refrigerator.

"Forget the size, how much electricity does that fucker need?" I gasped, laughing.

"Guys, look!" Nick called. "I'm the king of the jungle!" He was sitting in a collapsible plastic chair that might as well have been a throne - it was adorned in fur and cushion. The arms were long strips of fluff, where Nick was resting his arms like he was a monarch.

"Why would anyone even neEE-" Clay wheezed, unable to finish his sentence. His face was red and he was clutching his stomach.

"This is literally a whole oven!" I choked, pointing at a minature camp oven. "WHY!?"

"I dunno!" Nick said, giggling. Clay was still laughing like a kettle. He stumbled around, gasping for air, but then he tripped on the trolley we left in the aisle.

He collapsed into me, and instinctively, I grabbed around him, supporting him from under his arms. Still in a state of shock from laughing, he just looks up at me. Quickly, he backed up, looking flustered. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry-"

"No, it's fine," I insist, but in reality, my heart was thumping. I was sure I was blushing - my face felt like it was on fire. I turned away, quickly grabbing the trolley and saying, "Um, I think we have everything. Let's get going."

Clay nodded and turned to grab Nick, but he had fallen out of the chair and was on the floor wheezing. "That floor's probably nasty. Let's go."

Nick, trembling, got up. "What, am I third wheeling?"

"God, you're such an idiot," Clay said. I didn't look back at them because I pushing the trolley, but it sounded like Clay was looking away from Nick. We proceeded to checkout in silence minus Nick still snickering. Once we got out of the sporting goods, we just stood for a while with our bags.

"It's almost one. Erm... Do you guys want to get lunch?" I asked, trying to alleviate the tension.

"I really am third wheeling," Nick joked. I blushed bashfully.

"Okay, dude, that's enough. You're making George uncomfortable." Clay spoke sternly.

Nick just nodded with a slight frown before saying, "Um... there's a Chick-Fil-A downstairs, should we go there?"

"Sounds good," Clay said, with a tone of finality in his voice. We made our way down the escalator and into the modernized fast food shop.

We ordered some food and sat down, chatting like nothing happened. Soon we're done, throwing away the remnants of our lunch. We hop back into Clay's car, sitting for a moment before Clay speaks up.

"Um... are we done for today?" he asked.

"Probably. My parents are gonna worry if I'm out too long," Nick answered. I shrug in agreement. Clay nods and drives Nick back to his house. However, when he pulls up on my house, he turns to me.

He put the car in park. "Can I... um... stay over for a bit?"

"Oh- I mean, sure. My parents seem to love having you over." This was true - they would always make dinner for him if he stayed long enough.

"Thanks." He smiled, getting out of the car. I did the same, pushing open my front door.

My parents were in the kitchen, sipping on tea. My mom looked tired, but still greeted Clay and I happily. "Hi guys. Always nice to see you, Clay."

"Hi Mom," I said. Clay just waved awkwardly.

"What's in the bags?" she asked, indicating the supplies in our arms.

"Oh, just some stuff for the trip. I asked George to come shopping with me."

"That's sweet of him. Did you guys have lunch?"

"Yeah," I said. My cat came up to Clay, nuzzling his legs. He scooped the little guy up and started petting him.

"That's good. Sorry I wasn't home this morning, but one of the nurses decided not to show up and I had to fill in for her. Bitch." It's always amusing when my mother swears because of her sweet attitude and polite accent.

"Yikes," I said. That was apparently the end of the conversation, because my parents started putting away their dishes. Taking the incentive to leave, I took Clay up to my room. I sat on my bed as he pulled over my desk chair. "What do you wanna do?" I asked.

"You have a Switch, yeah? What do you have on it?" he asked.

"There's Smash Bros, Mario Kart... I'll play Mario Kart, if you want."

"I'm game. Prepare to get destroyed." He stretched his fingers menacingly.

"Yeah, right. I bet you play as one of the Koopalings," I scoffed.

He retorted. "I bet _you_ play as Pink Gold Peach."

"Fuck, you got me. Anyway, let's start!"


	4. The Days Before

Sunday was relatively boring. I spent most of the day working on homework I had neglected Friday and Saturday while jamming to some random artists - I don't really pay attention most of the time.

Yesterday's events were added to my memories that gave me hope that maybe, just maybe, I have a chance with Clay. Those memories often linger in my mind when I have nothing to think about, to the point where it's almost unhealthy. Of course, I've learned to stop taking them seriously.

Since I woke up so late, I wasn't done with work until about 4 PM. I got up, stretched, and decided to go for a walk. Switching out of my pyjamas and into walking clothes, I slip out of the house, starting my usual circuit around the neighborhood.

I normally take walks to go over thoughts in my head, and at the moment I had plenty - although lots of it came back to Clay. I hadn't really taken in the fact that I would be sleeping with him for 5 nights until just now. It was surreal, almost like something out of a romance novel - but that's wishful thinking. I'm sure he probably doesn't think too much of it.

Sighing, I continued onward. However, cloudy skies threatened rain, so I stopped about a third of the way around and returned back the way I came. This turned to be a good idea, as a raindrop hit me in the head as I walked into the small pathway leading up to my front door.

As I pushed open the entrance to my house, I noticed my mom sitting on the couch, reading a magazine. "Oh, Georgie! I was just about to text you to come back. It's about to rain."

"Yeah, I was getting rained on a little on my way back," I said, kicking off my shoes.

My mom smiled and sighed. "I wonder what we should have for dinner..." She looked out the window thoughtfully. I decided to just go upstairs. When I got up, I noticed my cat curled up on my chair. I scooped him up, placing him on my lap as I sat down. However, like cats do, he proceeded to leap off my lap and wander elsewhere around the house. I returned my attention to my screen, scrolling through Discord and Twitter, though nothing piqued my interest. The rest of today was spent playing Minecraft.

Monday morning rolled around, and I regret waking up. I groan, remember I have to wake up even earlier tomorrow. I skipped breakfast, grabbing my school stuff and packing a quick lunch before dashing out of my home and walking briskly to school.

The morning goes by as usual besides the fact that English was moved to fifth period so we could have both afternoon periods for Science, where we would be discussing the trip. When I entered the room, I noticed it was cramped. They had pushed the tables to the sides, but with the entire 10th grade, it didn't help much. I noticed that at the front of the room was Mrs. Blaire, my English and homeroom teacher; Mrs. O'Perra, my Science teacher; and Ms. Mendoza, the Spanish teacher. I was taking Latin, so I didn't know her very well. Mrs. O'Perra made sure everyone was present before beginning a speech.

"As you all know, the Wildlife Expedition trip begins tomorrow and will last 5 days. I hope you all have your supplies ready, because I've been reminding you for 2 weeks. We will have 3 major groups that house your trios - Ms. Mendoza will be with Mr. Hall's homeroom because he is unable to join us on this trip, but myself and Mrs. Blaire will be with our homerooms. Those of you who have already chosen your partners, those choices will be final. There will be no switching groups."

I tried to decipher what she was saying, but she spoke in a way that doesn't make much sense.

"Please follow your homeroom teachers to their classrooms where they will explain your division's agenda. Obviously, my class can stay here." There was a lot of shuffling and low muttering, but I squeezed through the crowd and out the door, following Mrs. Blaire back to our classroom. 

Once we got there, I noticed that the desks were organized in trios, with people's names on them. I briefly panicked, forgetting that we had organized our group with Mrs. O'Perra last Saturday. When I remembered, I looked around for Clay, who was already sitting with Nick. They were beckoning me over, so I quickly made my way to the cluster of desks and sat down.

"Bruh, why does Mrs. O'Perra have to talk like that? I'm more confused than when they first announced this trip," Nick whispered. Clay and I nodded in agreement, but we didn't speak, as Mrs. Blaire stood at the front of the classroom, getting everyone's attention. We got quiet fast.

"Um... hi guys. So this week's schedule for us... well, the first day, everyone's doing most of the activities together, but we will be doing some preparations for staying in tents for the rest of the week. The second day will be when we pitch tents in the morning, and the afternoon will be spent doing an in-depth tree study." She glanced down at the paper on her desk. "Let's see... third day is an animal scavenger hunt. God, I can't believe they're making highschoolers do this," she added under her breath, getting a few laughs out of everyone. "Our group will be trying to find and accurately classify fish, so we will be fishing in the lake. The fourth day will have... survival skills." She sighed, clearly reluctant to finish the fourth day's list. "There's also plant identification. Well, at least the fifth day will be fun. There's competetions and swimming. We'll stay for one more night after that before returning Sunday morning."

When she was finished, a sort of silence filled the room. Nervously, Mrs. Blaire said, "Well, I'm sure the other two are probably spending a lot more time than needed. Just do whatever you want until they tell me to bring you back. Use your phones, I don't really care." With that, she opened her laptop and did work. I turned back to my two best friends at the table.

"Holy shit, this week is gonna suck," Clay groaned.

"Tell me about it. What are we, six?" Nick giggled.

"Leave it to that bitch to make something like this unfun," I muttered. I'd never liked Mrs. O'Perra; while I normally got along really well with my teachers, she and I just didn't. She always seemed to want to come after me especially, but luckily, the principal was sensible, so I rarely got in trouble.

"At least we have Mrs. Blaire as our group leader. Imagine how much it would suck if we had Mrs. O'Perra," Clay sighed optimistically.

"True," I said. 

We talked more with nothing interesting happening until Mrs. O'Perra came in and said that we could spend the rest of the day in our classroom with a study hall. A few moments after, Mrs. Blaire told us, "Just continue whatever you're doing. You can study if you want."

We took the hint and chatter immediately erupted again. I found myself getting lost in Clay's face when he and Nick found a particularly interesting topic. He didn't notice, thankfully, so I was left daydreaming when I got the chance.

Several hours later, I'm getting ready to go to sleep. I'm in just my pyjama pants with no blanket. Worrying about how I would face this week with Clay while also excited for the trip overall, I'm unable to sleep. But eventually, exhaustion wins and I slip out of consciousness.


	5. On the Way

"George, wake up."

I open my eyes slightly, but they completely open in shock when I saw Clay, standing above me with his large backpack thrown around his shoulder.

"Clay! What the fuck!? Why are you- I don't have any clothes on-" I pulled up the sheet blanket to cover my bare chest.

He disregarded my shouting. "You need to get up, it's like 6:30."

"Okay, but why did you break into my house to let me know?" My face is warm. I'm sure that I'm bright red.

"Your dad let me in," he said, nonchalantly.

"Oh my God- listen, I'll be out in a moment, just go stand outside." I quickly grabbed some clothes I had set out.

"Gotcha." He left, closing the door behind him. Funny joke by my dad, I'm sure. He probably figured he'd let Clay in to wake me up and make me flustered. Well, I'm not laughing. 

I switched out my pants and threw on a shirt, smoothing out my hair. I hapazardly grabbed my bag and ran downstairs. I wanted to just brush past my dad, but he stopped me. "Hey, stay safe out there."

"Yeah, yeah," I said dismissively.

"And don't, um... get with any guys, got it?" he warned seriously.

"Got it," I sighed.

"Now you can go. Have fun!" he said, letting me go. I haven't even been up for five minutes and I just want to disappear into a hole for the rest of my life. 

I walked outside, an overcast sky reflecting the sun's vibrant rays. "Hey," Clay greeted from the curb. "You're all red. What's up?"

"My dad," I groaned. 

Clay looked like he wanted to respond, but he didn't. After a moment of awkward silence, he asked, "Should we get going?"

"I guess. Where's your car?" I looked up and down the street, not noticing his car.

"I walked here. My parents didn't want me leaving my car at the school for a week." He got up, picking up the bag next to him.

I was concerned. "I thought you lived far away?"

"I've been out for half an hour," he admitted.

"Damn. That must suck."

"I got used to it. At least I still have my endurance from track."

"Well... Don't collapse on me again, okay?" I teased, starting off towards school. He follows behind me and we silently make our way to the meeting point at the parking lot.

There were a few people out, which was lot more than I expected. There were joggers, bikers, and we even got to pet a nice lady's dog. At about halfway, Clay tried to speak, but his teeth were chattering.

"Are you cold?" I asked.

"Yeah," he answered.

"Do you have a jacket?"

"I have one in my bag, but I didn't want to get it out because it's at the bottom."

My breath caught in my chest. Don't offer, don't offer, don't offer-

"Do you want mine?" I offered.

"Um... sure, as long as you don't need it."

I stopped punching myself internally. "I'll be fine," I assured him. I quickly took off my light blue jacket and handed it to him. He gratefully bundled up.

He put his hands in the jacket pockets. "Thanks. That's much better." As we continued walking, I thought, Well, at least I didn't have to insist.

We arrived at school around 6:50, meaning we were 15 minutes early. A rather large bus was parked in the front of the school. Mrs. Blaire waved us over, holding a clipboard.

"Hi guys. You're early. There's only a few other kids on the bus, and I think you're the first from my group." She quickly checked her clipboard. "Well, second and third. I forgot to mention yesterday that this is a double decker bus. A few of the seats have tables, but the ones with chaperone's bags on them are reserved."

"Wait, really?" I asked, somewhat shocked. The bus looked only slightly larger than normal size to me. I knew the trip was expensive, but damn.

"Yep! It's quite nice, actually. Go grab a seat before other people get here. Oh, and feel free to play on your phone or whatever." She turned towards some other kids who were arriving, leaving Clay and I to enter the bus.

She was right; there was a staircase at the back that led to the second floor. Having never been on a double decker bus before, I eagerly dashed up the small steps, Clay following behind. There were a few people on the bus, including a familiar mess of dark brown hair laying on a pillow near the front at a table seat.

"Is that Nick?" I asked. 

Clay just shrugged. "Let's find out."

We slid into the small booth-like area. This person, whoever it was, had his head on the table, clearly trying to sleep. "That's probably Nick," I whispered as Clay slid in next to me. 

Nick stirred. "Wha? Someone say my name?"

"Hi," I giggled. "I'm surprised you're here this early." He's consistently a few minutes later to school than Clay and I, always just barely getting here before it's considered tardy.

"I didn't choose to. My mom literally kicked me out of bed at 6 AM so I wouldn't miss this stupid trip," he groaned, resting his head on his palm. "I'm gonna sleep through this whole bus ride."

"You do that," I sighed, watching him pull a pillow from out of his bag and lay it in front of him before collapsing his head onto it. Clay just gazed out of the window.

"At least we got a good seat," he said. "What do you want to do for the bus ride?"

"Dunno. I could watch stuff on YouTube, I guess." I didn't have any other ideas.

"Okay." He pulled out his phone. "What do you wanna watch?"

"What? O-Oh, I was gonna... do it myself..." I stuttered.

"Oh. That's fine-"

I cut him off, not wanting to waste this opportunity. "No, we can watch together. What did you want to watch?"

He pulled out his earbuds and gave me one as we scrolled through some interesting videos. It wasn't long before the bus was filled, and after a while, Mrs. Blaire came upstairs to talk to us. She ran through some sort of procedure and told us to be polite with our noise levels as to not distract the bus driver. Then, she sat down up front near where Nick, Clay, and I sat.

Eventually, the bus started moving. It was interesting to have a higher perspective of the road around us rather than in a car or a normal bus. Clay and I got back to watching YouTube, but at points in the trip, we were too far from any cell service to watch.

When this happened, we would chat about miscellaneous topics. Clay was a chatterbox when something he knew a lot about was the topic of discussion, so I just lost myself in his features. His striking green eyes, his dirty blond hair, his smile... 

"Hey, you there?" he asked, snapping me out of it.

"Oh- Um, just kinda spaced out. Sorry," I stuttered.

"Were you listening?"

"Sort of," I lied.

"Well, let me ask the question again - how did you know you were gay?" he asked.

My heart fluttered. "Woah there, you questioning?"

He sighed. "Clearly you weren't listening. Nevermind, I don't want you getting the wrong idea."

"Well," I began, ignoring him, "personally, I knew because of my lack of attraction towards girls. And then there was this guy especially, and everything else just... fell into place."

"That's... simple. Who's 'this guy'?" he poked.

"Secret," I said, quickly. I wanted badly to flirt with him, but now didn't seem like a great time.

"Alright then. Keep your secrets."

"I- Did you just quote a meme at me?"

"Yes." He flashed a goofy grin.

I scoffed. "You're such an idiot."

"I guess that's why we're friends," he giggled.


	6. Day One

I could feel the road become rough and bumpy underneath the bus. I picked my head up from the table where I had laid it in my arms. Nick was still passed out on his pillow, but Clay was listening to music on his phone. Looking out the windows, I saw that there was forest on either side of the road. I checked the time on my phone - it was 11:54, meaning it had been almost 5 hours since we left. I stretched my arms and yawned. Clay took an earbud out.

"Rise and shine. Mrs. Blaire said we're almost there a few minutes ago."

"Should I wake Nick up?" I asked.

Clay nodded and sarcastically warned, "Careful, he might bite."

I poked his shoulder, but that didn't work. He was fully snoring. I grabbed his arm and shook him. He let out a groan and shook my hand off.

"Lemme sleep," he muttered.

"We're almost there," I scoffed.

He sighed. Bringing his head up off the table, he stretched and rubbed his eyes. His disheveled hair fell onto his face, which he quickly brushed away.

Clay began putting his phone and earbuds away. "How'd you sleep?" he asked genuinely.

"My neck hurts," Nick whined.

"Sucks for you," I teased.

Soon, the bus began to slow, and a building came into view. It was in a large clearing and had a rustic exterior, like a huge cabin. The bus pulled into a grassy area with traces of gravel on the ground, which must have been the parking lot. Quickly, Mrs. Blaire stood up and addressed the upper group. "We're here. Once you get out, please stand in a group with your homeroom and wait for your homeroom teacher to come to you. Also, make sure to thank the bus driver."

Everyone started getting up, grabbing their bags. The top and front rows dismissed first, meaning Clay, Nick, and I got down early. After a while of waiting, the last few kids came out and were followed by the chaperones. The sun beamed down us all, making me squint.

"Hello everyone!" Mrs. O'Perra boomed, getting everyone's attention. "As you can see, we have arrived. Please take your room number from your assigned teacher and drop off your bags before returning to the central hall."

Mrs. Blaire tapped me on the shoulder and handed me the keycard to room 14, which I pocketed. "You're rooming with Bad's group, I think."

"Cool," I said, genuinely. Bad was one of Clay's friends, and while I didn't know him well, he seemed nice. Bad wasn't his real name, obviously, but it came from a nickname everyone gave him. I don't really remember what his real name was - I got the idea that it was Darryl, but I had never confirmed it. He's so polite and always censors his cuss with things like "muffin," which led to people to call him "Bad Boy" and thus "Bad." Even our teachers call him that.

Mrs. Blaire walked away to give other people their keys and I looked at Clay and Nick. I pulled out the keycard. "We're room 14. Let's get going, yeah?"

"Okay. Lead the way," he said, nodding toward the door. I hoisted my bag up higher over my shoulder and started walking.

The interior of the building contrasted its exterior - it was contemporary and stylish. Cool A/C flowed through the vents, cooling us off from the scorching heat outside. The small, carpeted foyer led to a hallway, at the center of which was double doors, propped open to reveal a grandiose dining and activity center, complete with a chandelier. There were signs with numbers on them on either side of this door, presumably leading to the rooms.

"Looks like we're all the way on the left," I sighed, taking a turn. The carpet was patterned with blue and yellow spots with a green background. The whole aesthetic reminded me of a hotel.

After a short while of walking, we get to the far end of the hallway. We turned to a room on the left numbered 14. Opening the door, I saw that the other trio was finishing up putting their stuff away. I recognized Bad in his brown hair in glasses, but it took me a second to recognize the other two. I think the shorter, black haired one was Zak, and the average height one was Alex. "Hi guys," I greeted, making them look up.

"Hi!" Bad said enthusiastically. "We were just figuring out bunking."

"I was just thinking about that. How about we bunk together, and the rest of our groups bunk with themselves?" Clay offered.

"Okay. Do you want top or bottom bunk?" Bad asked politely.

Clay chuckled. "Oh, top is fine."

Nick turns to me. "I guess you're getting bottom bunk?"

"You know me too well," I snickered. "But no, I want the top."

"Too bad, bottom boy. It's mine," he laughed, quickly jumping up the small ladder and putting his bag down. Scoffing, I placed my bag on the bottom bunk. The beds were made expertly, but they didn't have pillows. I guess that's why we had to bring one.

Everyone just stood looking at each other for a moment. Then Clay laughed. "Um, let's go, I guess," he said, making his way out of the room. The rest of us followed, walking silently down the hall.

We took a turn into the central area which was now full of chatter. There were lots of tables, few of which were still empty, but I found an empty table near the front and sat. Nick and Clay took a seat on either side of me while the other group decided to join us.

We talked for a while about random shit until loud reverb shocked us all. I turned to the front where our teachers were standing, Mrs. O'Perra holding a microphone that had just squeaked. She began speaking.

"Hello everyone! This marks the beginning of this week's trip. We will be handing out schedules for this week, but let me explain first: Every day will follow a similar schedule. We ask that everyone be up at 9:30 in time for breakfast here. After breakfast, at 10:30, we will do a small morning activity until lunch at 12:40. After lunch will be a brief break period before we do an activity for the rest of the afternoon starting at 1. Finally, we will eat again at 6 before showering and going to sleep. You can wander around the campus, but everyone must be in their rooms, soon to be tents, by 10. Everyone got that?"

"Not really," Clay muttered to no one in particular. I chuckled.

Mrs. O'Perra continued. "For now, we will give you all half an hour to unpack and explore the campus once you have your schedule. Please return to this room by 1." She and the other teachers began handing out the schedules. Since we were near the front, it wasn't long before Clay, Nick, and I were given the schedules. I hopped out of my seat and made my way back to our room, my best friends following close behind.

I opened the door and sat down on Nick and I's bunk. I pulled over my bag and opened it, rummaging through the contents. After some unpacking, I put the rest away. We'd be moving to tents tomorrow night, so there was no reason to unpack everything. Clay approached me and took off the jacket he was wearing.

"Sorry, I never gave it back to you," he admitted, handing it out to me. "Thanks."

I was flustered. Taking it, I stuttered, "Oh, um... you're welcome."

The time flew by until it was 1, meaning it was time to return to the central hall. When I arrived, I saw that the shutters that were off to the side were opened and the counters were full of food. Soon everyone arrived and chatter filled the room once more. Finally, Mrs. Blaire stepped up at the front with the microphone, getting everyone's attention.

She made sure the mic was working. "Can I have your attention, please? Um... As you might assume, the staff here has made lunch. You may serve yourself at the side, but please do not take too much. Also, please thank them for the food."

The hall erupted in cheers and the scooting of chairs as everyone made to get food. I was one of these people. Clay, however, remained sitting.

"Why aren't you going?" I asked.

"I'm not trying to get trampled," he said, indicating the huge crowd.

I was shocked. "But there's food!"

"I can wait," he assured me.

I hesitated for a moment. "Um... I mean, I can get you something."

"For real? That'd be great!" He looked pleasantly surprised, and I left, being sure to grab 2 plates. Nick was nearby in the line.

I went through the line, grabbing sandwiches, miscellaneous fruits and crackers. Eventually, both plates were full and I returned to our table, Nick following behind.

"Didn't know what you wanted, so I just got you the same as me." I slid his plate over to him.

"That's fine," Clay smiled. I blushed a little bit.

I started to bite into my sandwich, but Nick started cracking up. "You guys are so funny. Just propose already."

I blushed deeper, but Clay just rolled his eyes. "Shut up."

"What? I'm right," Nick giggled before taking a huge bite of his food. The lunch went on in silence and, eventually, we finished. There was another speech, but at this point, I was too focused on Clay to care. I fell into a daydream again, but soon, everyone started standing up and I snapped out of it.

"What are we doing? I wasn't paying attention," I asked to my two partner's backs.

Nick scoffed. "Some sort of 'teambuilding activity' bullshit. We're going outside."

When we got to the field, people were standing around in groups. Following suit, the three of us stood together in a small circle, looking expectedly towards Ms. Mendoza, who was standing with a megaphone. She explained some sort of game to us, and evidently, this was how we were going to spend the afternoon; just playing game after game until the sun began to set. Some of the games were fun, but most of them were clearly for younger children.

Sweaty, tired, and sick of the games, the overall group returned to the central hall, where a lingering smell of seasoning filled the air. Mrs. Blaire stood up to announce the dinner before taking her place at the teacher's table, which had been set up at the front. Like lunch, it was self-served, but it was mostly premade meals that you just grabbed. There was free water, but the vending machine wasn't free, so I just got the water.

"This is like a whole fucking Hogwarts," I commented, looking around.

"Tell me about it. The food doesn't suck either," Clay agreed, mouth full of chicken. Nick looked like he wanted to say something, but he was shovelling down food so fast I was worried he was going to choke.

Once everyone sat satisfied with their dinner, Mrs. O'Perra stood at the front and announced, "That was an excellent meal. Please thank the chefs for their hard work. Now, time to shower. Boys' showers are at the end of the hallway on the right when facing from the foyer, while girls' are on the left."

My heart sank. I had known about the showers, but I chose to ignore the implications of it. Now that it was happening in mere minutes, though, the true weight of the situation hit me. I probably shouldn't not shower, but putting the gay kid, naked, in a room full of boys his age who are also naked should be considered cruel and unusual punishment. I guess I'll just have to go as fast as possible.

Dreading this otherwise insignificant event, I drudged back to the room. I got some pyjamas and a towel from out of my bag before heading toward the showers. I entered the first open stall and closed the curtain, stripping and putting my clothes over the rung of the curtain.

I turned on the water, not even waiting for it to get warm. I scrubbed myself in record time and quickly dried off, still in the stall. Throwing on my clothes, I zoomed out of the room and back into my sleeping area. Nick was sitting on the bed, shocked.

"You're already done?" he asked, still in his day clothes.

"Yeah. Didn't want to be in there for too long," I said.

He nodded. "That's reasonable. Well, I guess I'd better get in there too." With that, he got up, holding his clothes and a towel. I watched as he exited the room, leaving me by myself.

Sighing, I lied back on the bed and pulled out my phone. It was barely 7 PM. Normally, I went to sleep much later than this. I groaned and pulled up my sheets, deciding to just sleep. Right as I was about to drift off, though, the other boys entered the room, laughing.

"Hey George!" Clay greeted, wheezing.

"Hi," I said dryly, sitting up.

"You already sleeping?" he asked.

I sighed. "Might as well. There's nothing else to do around here."

"True. Plus, you're already in pajamas," he noted.

"You're not?" He was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt which I had assumed to be pyjamas, but looking at it closer, the rest of the group was in mostly normal clothes.

"Nah, we're going exploring. Wanna come?" he offered.

Every part of me is saying yes except my mouth. "No, I'm good."

He chuckled. "Alright. Sweet dreams."

"Bye George!" Bad said, waving.

I turned over in my bed and eventually was able to sleep, dreaming of the boy I wanted but could never have.


	7. Fortunate Accident

On the morning of the second day, I woke up late relative to how early I fell asleep. It was a little before 9. The others were in their beds, all seemingly still asleep. Deciding this was a good time, I grabbed some day clothes and quickly went to change in the bathroom that each room had. Nobody was awake when I finished, though, so I just took out my phone and went to look through social media.

Then I saw that I had no reception. Well, it wasn't surprising - we were all the way out in the middle of nowhere. Sighing, I checked if there were any Wi-Fi networks, and it seemed like the camp had a public one. Though it probably wasn't the fastest, it would work. I connected and resumed scrolling through social media. As usual, nothing was interesting; someone semi-significant was getting cancelled over on Twitter again while the connection was too bad to effectively scroll Reddit. Instagram was mostly full of people from school or celebrities who posted mostly the same things, so there wasn't anything new there.

Soon, I saw movement on the other side of the room. The other boys must be waking up.

"Anyone else awake?" I heard Bad call, quietly.

"Me," I croaked back, hoarsely. I cleared my throat. "How'd you sleep?"

"It was... okay, I guess," he admitted. "Nothing too special."

"That's how I feel about it too." I sat up straighter, stretching out my arms. I checked my phone clock. "We should wake the other guys up. It's like 9:25."

"I'll do mine." I heard shuffling and saw Bad get out to go wake up his group mates on the bunk farthest from mine. I also got up, deciding to wake up Clay first. I stepped over to his bunk and climbed halfway up the ladder.

I looked down at his serene, sleeping face. His messy, dirty blonde hair fell on his face perfectly. I gave him a light poke in the shoulder. Immediately, he gasped loudly and his eyes snapped open.

"George! Wh-" he sputtered, recoiling.

"Payback," I smiled. "It's almost 9:30, you need to get your fat ass up."

"Did you have to be in my face to tell me that?" He was obviously surprised.

"Nah, but it's funny." With that, I hopped off the ladder and went over to shake Nick awake.

I didn't want to fully wrap my arms around him and shake him, so I settled for just shoving him from the side. He groaned as I jumped off the steps.

"What do you want?" he scoffed, turning over.

I giggled. "Wake up, it's 9:30."

"Fine," he sighed, haphazardly stumbling down the ladder. They all took turns changing in the bathroom before finally, everyone was ready to go.

We arrived to the central hall a couple of minutes late, but there were only just people getting food from the buffet. It really felt like a hotel breakfast, with the dishes including scrambled eggs, bacon, premade waffles, biscuits (actual bread biscuits, not cookies), along with condiments to go along with these like syrup and jam.

I grabbed a little of everything I liked and rerturned to the table we sat at yesterday. Clay, Nick, Bad, and Bad's trio followed suit. We talked and laughed and soon, everyone's plate was cleared. As usual, Mrs. O'Perra stood at the front to make an announcement.

"Hello everyone! This morning, we will be pitching tents. Please follow your group leader to your designated area of the campsite once everyone's finished eating."

"Bitch, your fat ass took this long to eat, everyone else is done," I muttered, earning a few laughs from Clay.

After a few minutes of waiting, Mrs. Blaire stood up, looking at her phone. "My group, please follow me. Our instructor is ready." She made her way out the door followed by my trio and a few others. We walked for a while in the morning air before arriving in a small clearing with several bags strewn about. To our left stood a youger man in cargo shorts and a t-shirt. He looked to be around 20.

"What's up, everyone? My name is Andrew," he greeted amiably. "Today, we will be setting up our tents. Please have your trio stand near a bag - any works fine, they're all the same color."

There was shuffling as everyone stood at a bag each. Clay, Nick, and I got one closest to the trees. Andrew spoke again. "Good. Now that you're all at a bag, please open it up and take out the contents."

Nick eagerly zipped open the bag and dumped everything out. There looked to be the lime green tent, several stakes, some string, and a few poles. I had never been camping in my life, so all of this looked foreign to me, but Clay seemed to recognize a few things. He did say he was a boy scout in middle school, so I'm not surprised.

Andrew started instructing everyone. "If you already know how to build a tent, please still follow my instructions. This is supposed to be a team activity, so everyone should be working."

We got to work. We unfolded the tent and laid it flat on the ground before getting the stakes ready and securing the tent down. Already, it started taking shape, which surprised me.

"Is that all..?" I began, but Clay quickly explained.

"No, we still need to set up the frame."

"Right he is!" Andrew said. "Please grab the poles now and assemble the tent frame, like so." He began doing his own demonstration, but I made my way to grab the poles. That is, until I tripped on a stake and when I tried to regain my balance, my ankle went at a weird angle and I fell.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my leg and it felt like my ankle was falling off.

"Gah! Fu- MMMMMM!" I grunted, holding the injured ankle and biting my lip to avoid screaming cuss words.

"Hey, you okay over there?" Andrew yelled, running over.

"Twisted his ankle, I think," Clay said. "He tripped on one of the stakes and landed weirdly."

"He should probably go see the nurse. Could you take him?" Andrew asked, crouching down to examine.

"Sure. C'mon, George." He offered his hand to pull me up. I grabbed it timidly.

Then, he used my hand to sling my arm around his shoulders. He wrapped his other arm behind my back and under my other arm. I knew I must have been bright red - it sure as hell felt like it. Between embarrassment and the pain in my ankle, I wish I just didn't exist.

Clay started leading me back to the building. It wasn't a long walk, but it'd be slow because of my impaired movement. "This your first time twisting your ankle?" he asked.

"I think it's the second, but it's definitely been a while," I answered.

"Yikes. I've done it tons of times. I remember one time I couldn't walk for, like, 3 days, and I needed crutches."

I was scared. "Will it be that bad for me?"

Clay thought for a moment. "Probably not. You did twist it pretty badly, but I honestly doubt anything like that would happen. In my experience, the worst normally lasts the rest of the day, and for the week after it's just kinda sore. It'll hurt, definitely, but you'll be able to walk."

I sighed. "Fuck."

"At least it's not sprained," he chuckled.

"Aren't they the same thing?" I questioned.

"Technically, yes, but spraining it is generally considered to be when you seriously damage or tear the ligament. Twisting it is less severe," he explained.

"I assume you've sprained your ankle before?"

He smiled. "Yeah, that's the one I was talking about where I needed crutches."

I winced. "That sucks."

"Eh, there's no permanent damage. Plus, it was in 8th grade. Long time ago now."

"That's weird. I feel like I would have remembered if you had crutches for a few days."

"It was over summer. Happened at a track meet," he reminisced.

"Damn." I didn't know what else to say, and evidently, Clay didn't either, because we walked the rest of the way in silence.

The camp's nurse was also the receptionist, so we went up to the front desk and I explained what had happened. She didn't ask questions and just led Clay and I to the office behind the desk, where there were three seat/bed things that you see at nurse's offices. I hopped on the seat and the nurse asked me to take off my shoes and socks. Clay just stood awkwardly behind her, not really knowing what to do.

She examined my foot and ankle closely, moving it left and right. I winced in pain at this. Finally, she determined, "It's definitely twisted. I'll give you some ice and you should stay here for a while. Oh, and you," she said, turning towards Clay. "You can go back. I'll take care of this one." Clay only nodded and went to leave. Part of me wanted him to stay, but I knew he couldn't. Plus, he had already done so much for me.

The nurse asked me for my name and class. I told her and she said, "Alright, well, do you want to go home?"

My heart dropped. "Is it that bad? I don't really want to..."

"No, it's not that bad, but I want to make sure because you might not enjoy the rest of this trip. So, is 'no' your answer?" she asked with a tone of finality.

"It is," I said firmly.

"Alright." She started grabbing some medial supplies, including one of those bandage rolls and one of those chilled gel bags. She wrapped up my foot and handed me the bag, saying, "Keep this on your ankle. You should take the bandage off before showering, and come to me after so I can reapply it. I'll keep you in here until lunch today."

"Okay," I sighed resignedly. The nurse smiled and went back out to be the receptionist. I pulled out my phone, looking for something to do. I decide on texting my dad.

 **George:** hi dad  
 **George:** so um  
 **George:** i twisted my ankle at the trip  
 **George:** dont worry im fine otherwise but i just thought id let you know  
 **Dad:** Did you tell your mother? You know how seriously she takes injuries  
 **Dad:** You don't need to be picked up, do you?  
 **George:** im staying  
 **Dad:** Good.  
 **Dad:** Well, just follow what whoever is taking care of you tells you to do.  
 **Dad:** Love you.

I closed the text and went back to staring blankly at my home screen. I just wanted to talk to Clay, but that was one of the many things I couldn't do, along with walking.

I began daydreaming again about Clay. What if we were dating and I twisted my ankle? What would happen then?

I quickly shook off these thoughts. No, I can't think like that. He just did it as my best friend. Nothing else.

Or was it?


	8. Extracurricular Activities

"So how'd it happen, George?" Bad asked, concerned.

We were sitting at our usual table. Bad's trio had already gotten lunch, but Nick was getting his and Clay was getting his and mine. At the moment, I was wearing flip-flops I had brought for when we would go to the lake because socks would be a pain to put on with the bandage. I had finished with the ice pack and was going to get another one when I got the bandage reapplied.

"I tripped on a stake and then landed on my ankle weirdly," I said. "It's not that bad though."

He smiled. "That's good to hear. Did Nick or Clay tell you about how the tents are?"

"No, why?"

"They're really cozy, actually. They look small, but we have so much room."

I nodded. "Cool." 

Soon, Clay came holding two plates, sliding one over to me. "I got you the same thing you had yesterday since they were serving it. I didn't think you'd mind."

I grinned. "I don't. Thanks."

The six of us started eating, talking about the tents and camping. Suddenly, Nick remembered something. "Oh yeah, George, I forgot to tell you. People are going to swim in the lake at, like, midnight. Some sort of secret event. But..."

I wanted to go, but I definitely couldn't with my ankle. "I know," I sighed. "You guys can go, don't worry about me."

Bad looked remorseful. "I wish you could. Hopefully you can still go swimming on Saturday."

"Definitely," I assured him.

Lunch finished without any more interesting conversation. Mrs. O'Perra went to announce the afternoon event, but I already knew I was exempted from it, so I didn't care. I would instead be doing a related assignment inside that was prepared for people who didn't come on the trip. So when everyone else followed their homeroom teacher outside, I stayed at my table and pulled out the assignment. The kitchen staff came out to start cleaning, though, so I hobbled out of the eating area and into the nurse's office. The nurse had said that I could use her room for these sorts of things if necessary, so I felt better about staying in there.

The time ticked by as I did the work. I had to read some boring essay about trees and then answer questions based on it. I would rather be outside with my friends and crush. Not like I had a chance with him anyway. But it's always fun to imagine.

The work was a lot heftier than I first thought - it took about as much effort as a small project - meaning by the time I was done, it was almost 5. I leaned back in my chair, stretching my arms. I turned to the window and saw the other groups coming up. Grabbing up my supplies and paper, I hobbled out of the nurse's office to meet them at the foyer.

"Oh. Hey, George," Mrs. Blaire smiled. "We're bringing our stuff to the tents. Um, you don't have to carry your own stuff..."

"Nah, I'm fine. I'll get it." I turned to wobble to our old room and opened it with the key. Soon, Clay, Nick, and the rest entered too.

"That was boring as fuck," Nick groaned, tossing clothes into his bag. "There's only so much to know about trees.

Clay nodded. "I wish you'd been there."

I fought the urge to blush. "At least you didn't have to do the stupid worksheet."

"I dunno, the 'tree study' was probably less painful on paper. Anyway, let's get our shit and get out." Clay started putting clothes away. I did the same along with my supplies, but I kept out the key and assignment, assuming I'd have to turn them in. On my way out, I approached Mrs. Blaire, who was sitting in the lobby.

"Oh, thanks!" she said, taking it. "How are you feeling?"

I shrugged. "Better, I guess. I can sort of walk."

She looked concerned. "Well, don't overdo it, okay?"

"Trust me, I won't," I assured her. I didn't have any reason to, being so intolerant to pain.

"Good. Let's get going." She started walking off towards the campsite and I followed, bag on her shoulder.

When we arrived, I was impressed. The tents were set up and light was coming from the inside, though the people inside were casting shadows on the nylon. Clay was climbing into what was presumably our tent, so I followed him.

Though on the outside it looked pretty small, it was huge inside relative to the exterior. There was easily room for three sleeping bags with some spare room for sitting or our backpacks. There was also some sort of ground covering, which I didn't know was in the bag at all. Nick was patting down his bright red sleeping bag while Clay was getting his own from in his bag.

"It's actually pretty big," I commented, sitting cross-legged in the back of the tent.

Clay nodded. "Tents are always like that. Although... I don't know how much money this place makes, but these are pretty high-quality tents."

"Isn't there a foundation or something?" Nick suggested, sitting on his knees.

"Oh yeah. I remember hearing something like that," Clay agreed as he unrolled his bright green sleeping bag. I pulled out my navy blue one and laid it out in between their sleeping bags, where there was the most space. We pushed our bags to the little empty space at the back and just sat on our sleeping bags for a moment.

Clay sighed. "I guess that's all. Are we heading back?"

"Okay." We crawled out of the tent one by one, with some difficulty on my part. We made our way back in the setting sun, which was illuminating the sky with red and orange light. My ankle felt better with the ice and rest, so this walk thankfully wasn't very painful nor slow.

Dinner was, once again, an extraordinary affair. Our table group was the same as always, which was actually proving to make me more friends. Bad had pretty much already adopted me as a friend, while I was talking noticeably more to Zak and Alex.

Besides this, dinner was uneventful. There wasn't even a major announcement afterwards - just a dismissal and them telling us to go shower. I got into the shower and removed my bandaging. Like before, I got through everything quickly, but this time, I had to pass other guys on my way out because of the delay. Flustered, I haphazardly dashed past the bare chests and calves. Luckily, no one was outright nude, but it was still embarrassing. 

I made my way back to the lobby and into the nurse's office, where she greeted me with a smile. "Sit down there, I'll wrap up your foot."

I followed these instructions and winced slightly as she wrapped a new bandage around my ankle. It was over quickly, though, so I slid on my flip flops and headed out into the cool night air, headed for the campsite. Fireflies lit up the ground and trees, really giving an "in the woods" vibe.

I got to the clearing where our tents resided and climbed in. I was the only one inside, so I took this chance to switch into my pyjamas. I had just put on day clothes after my shower since I forgot to bring a new set with me. Content, I nestled into my sleeping bag. I pulled out my phone and began scrolling aimlessly.

It wasn't long before Clay crawled into the tent and sat on his sleeping bag. "Hey, um, George?" he asked. "Can I change? I won't be long."

I yawned. "Sure, I'll get out."

"Thanks," he smiled. I hopped out of the tent to see Nick making his way over. Luckily, Clay finished changing before he arrived.

The three of us lay in our sleeping bags (Nick hadn't bothered to change) and began dozing off. I thought about everyone going swimming in a few hours and wondered who else would be there. Finally, though, I fell into a decent sleep.

That is, until I was woke up by shuffling in the tent and a light breeze blowing in from the open flap. It must have been a little past midnight, judging by the fact my phone read that it was now thursday. I opened my eyes slightly to see Clay, in only swimming trunks, sneaking out. Nick, however, was passed out. I guess he decided not to go.

Clay didn't seem to notice I was awake and kept going out. At first I just wanted to leave him to it, but being lowkey thirsty to see him shirtless, I followed. Tiredly, I crawled out of the tent, impaired only slightly by my ankle, which felt loads better by now. I followed my crush through a small, wooded path and eventually, there was a clearing with a sizeable lake in the middle. The moon reflected across the water from its place high in the sky, creating a serene view. I saw lots of people playing around, and it was almost loud. It was pretty far out, so there must not be any risk of getting heard.

I caught up to Clay, causing him to jump. "Jesus!" he gasped. "Don't scare me like that. Anyway, you're not even in swimming gear. Why are you here?"

"Felt like it. I'll just sit on the side next to that person." I pointed to a girl who was sitting with her legs pulled into her chest, but Clay laughed nervously.

"I think that's Mrs. Blaire."

"Oh." It didn't seem like she was doing anything that would get us in trouble, so I just said, "Well, I'll sit with her anyway."

"Uhm- okay." Eagerly, he approached the water's edge and leapt in as Bad, Zak, and Alex approached him. 

I went to sit next to my teacher. She looked up and smiled, saying, "Morning, George. How's that ankle?" I guess she already assumed I wasn't swimming.

"Doing fine at the moment. What are you doing here?"

"Well, I found out that people were coming to swim tonight unauthorized, so instead of ruining the fun and reporting it, I decided to just be a lifegaurd. That way, nobody drowns and they get to have fun."

"That's considerate," I yawned, plopping down on the grass next to her.

"Don't worry. I used to be a lifegaurd, so I'm qualified. It's definitely hard to see in the dark, but this part of the lake's shallow anyway. I don't think anyone even has to tread water unless they're below 5 feet."

"Huh." I turned my gaze towards the people in the lake, scanning around for the boy I knew too well. I found him surrounded by girls, which didn't surprise me - unlike me, who tried to hide my crush on Clay, all of my girl friends always talked about how attractive he was. He's even dated one of them, which is why I know I don't have a chance. He's straight. Probably.

No, definitely.

"Some guy catch your eye?" Mrs. Blaire asked, readjusting her position.

"I guess," I sighed. "Wait, what-"

She looked like she didn't mean to say that. "Oh, sorry. Yeah, we all kind of know."

"I- Oh-" I was panicking.

She started speaking quickly. "Don't get the wrong idea, though! We're all okay with it. Sorry if I scared you."

"It's fine," I sighed, looking back toward the lake. "Well, I guess there is this one guy... but..."

"If you don't mind me asking, who?"

I blushed. "Oh, um... it's... C-Clay. I don't have a chance anyway, so I'm fine with saying that."

"What makes you say that?" She placed her hands on the ground behind her and extended her legs, turning her head toward me.

"I know he won't like me back like that. He doesn't swing that way. It'd just put strain on our friendship." I looked toward the ground, resting my chin on my hand.

"You can't know until you try."

"It's unlikely..." I stated. Why was she going to give me hope? Making me think that Clay and I could...

She shook her head. "If it were anyone else, I would agree. But I can't tell with him. He really cares about you, George-"

"Just as a friend," I interjected.

"-and even if he doesn't reciprocate, you guys would still be friends," she continued, ignoring my interruption.

I smiled weakly. "You don't have to make me feel better about it. I've already accepted that it can't happen."

"I don't mean to give false hope. If there was little to no chance, I would be discouraging you. But... there's something about you two." She spoke softly, as if to not offend me.

I remained silent, still processing everything she was saying.

She continued. "Listen, George. I'd hate if something could have happened, but didn't. I learned the hard way that you might only ever get one chance."

"What do you mean?" I turned toward her, curiously.

She hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "My husband... well, back when we were dating, he got really sick. A form of leukemia. No one thought he would make it. The doctors, his family, myself. It was grim. This was about 3 years into our relationship. I had been planning to propose for a long time, but I put it off, wondering if he was really the one or if I'd have any regrets. But when he was diagnosed... I was scared. Scared that I'd never have a chance... that I'd missed the one I did have because of my fear."

"But he got better?" I asked, knowing the answer.

"He did. We treasure the day he was declared healthy as much as our anniversary." Her voice sounded slightly chokes, like she was holding back tears.

I grinned. "That's amazing."

"But back to what I was talking about before. The situations are definitely different, but the fundamentals are the same. I was lucky to get a second chance, but not everyone is. I mean, us getting married wouldn't have prevented him from getting sick, but that's not true in your situation. You could go through highschool and graduate, and then you'd never talk to him again. You could miss your chance."

I was shocked. My perspective on the situation had completely changed in less than 5 minutes. "That's-... you're... right, I guess. But... how?"

She sighed. "I can't say. I don't know either of you well enough. I'd probably wait until after this trip is over, though."

"Right. Um... thank you. A lot. I... at first, I didn't want to talk about it, but you helped me work things out."

"I'm glad." She beamed sincerely. 

"I think I'm going to go back to sleep. Tell Clay where I went if he asks."

"Of course. I was thinking about making all these kids go in about half an hour anyway."

"'Night," I yawned, standing up. I awkwardly walked back to the tents and crawled in quietly, falling into possibly the easiest sleep I've have in months.


	9. Hooked

I woke up with my arms loosely wrapped around my pillow, cuddling it. Sighing, I restored it to its normal position at the head of my sleeping bag and checked the time on my phone. 8:30. Great. I was an hour early.

I tried moving my foot around to see how my ankle felt. Surprisingly, it felt almost normal - just slightly stiff. I could definitely walk on it now. Feeling a little bit better, I pulled my bag towards me and rummaged through it, seeing if anything was interesting I could do. My phone didn't get any cell reception here and the camp Wi-Fi was pitifully weak this far out, so I couldn't do much online.

I searched for a while until I eventually found my sketchbook. It was mostly full of landscapes since I wasn't very good at drawing anything else, but I also had a few sketches of my cat of varying completeness. Smiling, I flipped to a new page.

I pulled out a pencil and placed it against the paper thoughtfully. I went over ideas of what I could draw in my head for a while. Last night's scene kept popping up, so I decided to just do it. A moonlit lake reflecting the starry sky in the woods. Or something like that.

I kept drawing until my two sleeping friends started to stir. Checking my phone, it was about 9:20, meaning I had been drawing for almost an hour. I put away my sketchbook and pencil before grabbing some day clothes out of my bag. Yawning, I crawled out of the tent flap and left towards the bathrooms in the center of the three campsites.

I entered the male side and saw that only one of the stalls was occupied. Respectfully, I took the one farthest from it and began changing. When I finished, the other guy had left, so I just took a good look at myself in the mirror. I looked well-rested, something that I hadn't looked like in the morning for months. 

I washed my hands and left the bathroom, returning to the tent. Clay and Nick were both up, though the latter looked like he would rather still be asleep.

Clay looked up at me. "There you are, George. We were wondering where you were."

"I just went out to change. It's almost time for breakfast." I put away my pajamas and zipped up my bag.

"Why are you always the one who wakes up first?" Nick groaned, reaching for his bag lazily.

I shrugged. "I guess I'm just a morning person."

"Never took you like one," Clay chuckled, holding his clothes over his arm. "Anyway, I'm gonna go change. Meet you guys there." 

Clay and I left out the tent flap, Nick staying behind to change. I kept in the same direction to go to the camp building, but Clay split off, heading towards the bathrooms. 

When I arrived, Bad's trio was already at our usual table, eating their breakfast. I grabbed a plate and filled it with food, taking mostly eggs and waffles, and sat down across from Bad, whose mouth was full of bacon.

"Good morning!" he greeted, swallowing. "How are you?"

"I'm good." I started shoveling down scrambled eggs. 

He smiled politely. "That's good." 

We talked a little bit more until Clay and Nick showed up, about 5 minutes late. They were far from last, but the teachers got extra pissed at the kids who didn't finish eating by the time announcements were made yesterday, so it seemed best to be punctual. 

"I still don't get why they make us get up this early," Nick sighed, sitting down with his plate.

"Don't you get up earlier than this for school normally, though?" I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

"Not by myself," he said defensively.

"Well, that's why George is here," Clay giggled. I blushed slightly.

Nick picked up his fork. "Whatever. I have food now, stop bothering me."

We ate and bantered until this morning's announcements were upon us. This time, Mrs. Blaire spoke. "Today is the wildlife study event. Please go see your homeroom teacher at your campsite for further instructions." With that, she stepped down from the stage, quickly leaving out the back door.

"That was brief," Bad commented.

I nodded. "Yeah. I guess we'll just have to go to the tents again."

"My legs hurt from all of this walking," Nick fake-pouted.

"Dude, at least you have two perfectly fine ankles," I mocked, indicating my still bandaged ankle. "Speaking of which, I need to get the bandage removed. I'll meet you guys there."

"See ya, Georgie," Clay waved. My heart always skipped a beat when he called me that. It makes me wonder...

Shaking off these thoughts, I went to the nurse's office. She welcomed me politely, smiling. "How's the ankle?"

I kicked off my flip-flops. "Much better. I don't think I need the bandages anymore."

She hesitated for a moment before saying, "It's a gamble, but... well, if it starts hurting too much, come see me and I'll put them back on."

"Got it," I nodded. "Can I go?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

"Thanks," I said gratefully, sliding back into my flip-flops and leaving the nurse's office. It felt like it healed a little too quickly, but I'm not going to complain if it means I can walk comfortably again.

When I got to the tents, I saw Mrs. Blaire going around counting everyone's heads. She noticed me, counting, "...and George makes 24. Great. Alright, everyone, follow me." She started towards the main path leading into the woods. It was too dark for me to notice the signs last night, but now I noticed that there were multiple paths. Yesterday, I was just following Clay, so I didn't pay much attention to these, but now I noticed that we were going on a separate path, labeled "Fishing." Well, I can't say it wasn't direct.

The path felt longer than the one I took last night, and I soon realized why - we were almost on the other bank of the lake. There seemed to be a large dock with four fishing boats docked in its planks. I stood by Clay and Nick towards the front of the group.

"Welcome, everyone!" greeted a counselor standing at the front of the dock. She was wearing a safari hat, a purple shirt, and khaki cargo shorts, making her look like a professional Dora the Explorer. "My name is Valeria, but you guys can call me Val. After lunch, we're going to be fishing in this lake. First, though, we will be studying samples and dichotomous keys so that you will be able to identify a fish when you catch it this afternoon."

I looked behind her and saw small plastic containers; half had fish inside, who were darting around and looking scared. Or maybe it's just their resting, vacant expression that looks scared. I'm no marine biologist.

Val spoke up again. "As you guys can see, I have several buckets of fish. Each one has several different species of fish inside. Your job is to determine each species of fish. Your teacher will hand out the dichotomous keys. Let's see..." She looked down at a clipboard and began listing. "Okay, so, Brianna, Rachel, and Vanessa will be at this one here-" she pointed at the bucket on the far left. "Nick, Clay, and George will be over there-" she said, pointing at the bucket on the far right. The three of us jogged over and huddled around it, staring at the fish inside.

"They're oddly cute," I commented, turning my head.

"I've seen some of these, I think," Clay said, shuffling around to get a view of all of them.

Soon, Val finished up directing people to their buckets and began instructing us further as Mrs. Blaire came around, giving each group a piece of paper in a plastic pocket. I recognized it as a dichotomous key, mostly because of the text spanning the top. The back had a graph with pictures of fish and a line for their scientific and normal names.

"Alright, now that you're all ready, please start determining what species of fish these are. You can write on the paper with the white erase marker I gave you, and once you determine which fish is which, you can place it in the empty bucket off to the side. You do have to touch them," she added, which cause some noises interest from some and a chorus of "ew!" and "no way!" others, mostly girls. I was personally with the latter - I'd rather not touch lake fish.

Clay, however, was of the opposite opinion - with a quick snatch, he grabbed a fish from the bucket and held it so he wasn't covering its gills. "Hey George, can you hold this?" he said, passing me the fish.

"No fucking way!" I snapped, pulling my hand behind me.

Clay chuckled, pulling his fish-occupied hand back toward himself. "They're actually pretty clean animals since they live in water. Your hands probably touch dirtier things every day."

"Yeah, not to mention where they might be going when you're alone," Nick snickered.

"I- that's- fuck you," I stuttered, bright red.

"So I'm not wrong?"

"It's none of your business," I scoffed. Nick was wheezing, Clay was laughing nervously, and I just wanted to jump into the lake and drown.

After a beat of awkward silence, I picked up the marker and worksheet. "I guess we should start, then?" I suggested, meekly.

Clay nodded. "Yeah. Let's see..."

We spent a good amount of time classifying the fish and figuring out its taxonomic name, which wasn't given to us. We had to figure it out based on its properties and similar genera and species. Finally, after over 45 minutes of work, we finished and handed in our results to Val. 

She checked them against an answer key. She grinned, saying, "Yeah, these are all right. Good job, guys! You got it first."

"Nice," Clay said, beaming.

"Let's see... there's about half an hour until breakfast. You can toss the fish back into the lake if you're so inclined."

The three of us nodded and turned back towards our bucket. Clay gently picked the fish up before violently launching them into the lake, whereas Nick was just dropping them off the dock.

"Can't we just dump it?" I asked as Clay chucked the third fish.

"Nah, it's too violent for them."

"I- You're literally yeeting them into the lake but just pouring them from a bucket is too violent?"

He chuckled. "Good point. But this is more fun. Plus, she did say 'toss' them."

I shook my head. "If you say so."

"Why don't you try?" he said, holding out a fish.

I considered for a moment. While I was still hesitant to touch the fish, it wasn't as bad as I initially thought after doing the activity. "Oh, um... sure. How do I hold it?"

"Like this." He moved my fingers so I was holding the fish in a sort of pincer position. "Now throw it."

With some force, I launched the fish into the lake, watching it splash. Though I felt bad, it was pretty funny. I'm definitely going to hell.

We spent some more time yeeting the fish into the lake and laughing, but soon, it was time to return for lunch. We all washed our hands thoroughly in the outdoor bathroom before heading into the dining area. They had the usual choices of sandwiches and such, so I grabbed my favorites and sat down.

There were the usual talking and announcements before we left for the afternoon activity, satisfied with the generous amount of food. When we got to the fishing dock again, there was a pile of various colored life jackets sitting behind Val, Andrew, and 3 other staff members whom I didn't recognize.

Val waved enthusiastically. "Welcome back! We'll be going out on boats in shifts today. The first four groups will be Clay's group, with Jasmine; Zak's group, with Andrew; Brianna's group, with Colin; and Johanna's group, with Katie." She pointed at each of the counselors as she listed them.

Nick, Clay, and I walked over to the girl on the left, who Val had indicated was Jasmine. She beamed at us, saying, "Hey guys! Y'all ready to go fishing in a boat?"

We all gave a sort of half-hearted nod. Jasmine shook her head. "Well, you could be a little more enthusiastic, but that doesn't matter. As for life vests..." She looked at us all in turn, thinking. "With you three, I'd say a large for you - Clay, right? - and two mediums for you guys," she said, indicating Nick and me.

We watched as she picked out some life jackets from the pile. She handed each of us a bright green life jacket with black buckles before grabbing her own deep purple life vest, putting it on. "Alright, I assume you guys can handle putting them on, but feel free to ask me any help."

I pulled on my life jacket and buckled it up slightly, pushing it down so it was more secure over my shoulders. Clay and Nick did the same, the latter's looking slightly lopsided. Jasmine checked everyone's, pulling them up and testing if they came off. 

"You're all set," she said. "We're this boat over here, guys. Watch your step."

She stepped onto the boat, followed by Clay and Nick. I, however, hesitated for a moment.

"C'mon, George. Here, take this," Clay said, holding out his hand. Nervously, I grabbed it and, using it for support, stepped onto the boat. It wobbled beneath me, causing me to squeeze his hand instinctively. I blushed as I saw Nick cracking up behind him.

Taking a relieved breath, I took a seat and Clay took the one next to me. Jasmine started the engine and pulled out of the dock, driving steadily in one direction. The whir of the motor made it hard to hear what we were saying, but I could just make out Jasmine's shouting.

"Alright guys, we're going out pretty far. The fishing rods are on the floor and the bait is in the front, but I ask that you not use them until I tell you."

"Got it," I semi-shouted. The boat whirred some more until it finally slowed down, the engine's roar still somewhat ringing in my ears.

Jasmine climbed up to the front, addressing us all. "The water's really calm over here, but just in case the boat flips over, don't panic. Just float by the boat until someone else comes to get us or I instruct you otherwise."

The warning scared me a little bit, but I pushed those thoughts out of my head in favor of looking at the fishing rods and bait.

"Please pick up a fishing rod, I'll deal with the bait." She leaned over to grab the bucket of worms as the rest of us picked up a fishing rod from the floor. They were laid carefully as to not get the lines tangled, so there was no trouble picking them up and holding them cautiously over the water.

"So, does anyone here know how to fish?"

"Me," Clay said, but I shook my head. Nick shrugged noncommittally.

"Okay, well, I'll help you." she smiled, picking up the last fishing rod. She began instructing us on how to hold the pole, attach the bait, cast the line, and reel it in. By the time we had the basics down, it was almost an hour into our allotted time.

Jasmine pushed the bucket of bait closer to everyone. "Now that you're all ready, go for it. Take care with your hooks, though, since we're all so close together."

I cast my line and watched it sink into the water, the bobber floating on the water serenely. Clay sighed with a slight attitude.

"What's wrong?" I asked, curiously.

He seemed shocked that I heard him. "Oh, it's... nothing. This just makes me think of my parents, and... well, nevermind."

I wanted to ask more, but I knew better. Clay rarely talked about his parents, and when he did, it wasn't positive. I never got the full story, so all I knew is that he didn't want to talk about them.

It wasn't long until Clay caught a fish. He announced it excitedly, shouting, "Hey, guys, I got something!"

I turned around, ignoring my own line to see him. Everyone's eyes were glued to Clay as he fought with the line, though he was easily winning. Finally, he won, holding a decent-sized, mud-colored fish.

"Nice catch, Clay!" Jasmine congratulated, clapping. "Let me take the hook out... and there. Put it in the bucket, please."

Clay obliged and placed it in a small, blue container beneath his seat. He stood up excitedly, and several things happened at once.

First, Clay lost his balance and started to fall into the lake. I reached out and grabbed his arm, but I was also dragged off of the boat with him. The two of us landed in the dirty water with a splash.

We floated up almost instantly, Clay having to wipe some of his hair out of his face. Jasmine was shouting, Nick was wheezing, and I was bright red. After lots of panicking, everyone calmed down enough for Jasmine to get her words across.

"Clay, grab my hand, and CAREFULLY get in! Okay?"

"Yeah, hold on-" he grunted, pulling himself out of the water. He clambered into the boat, water dripping off of his clothes and jacket.

"George, you next!" she ordered, holding out her hand. I took it and pulled myself up, haphazardly vaulting over the side of the boat and inside of it, crouching awkwardly.

"I thought I told you not to stand up!?" Jasmine said, upset.

"I... sorry," Clay muttered, looking at the ground.

"And George... well, just, why?"

"I... I don't... know," I stuttered, flustered.

She thought for a bit, looking at Clay and me. "Are you two...? Actually, forget it. But as punishment, you're going to stay inside and do the paper assignment instead of the activity. Both of you."

"But George didn't-"

"He ignored what I said."

"It's okay, Clay," I murmured, embarrassed. Clay was fuming, but didn't say anything else. After a brief moment, people began casting their lines again and we spent another, very silent hour fishing.

Finally, our time was up, and Jasmine drove us back to the docks. Before she let us out of the boat, she talked to Mrs. Blaire for a moment. The latter looked over at us and frowned slightly. Jasmine called us over, telling Clay and me, "You guys should go change. Mrs. Blaire's going to take you back to the campsite and then to the building to do the assignment."

Silently, Clay and I stepped off of the boat and towards our disappointed teacher. As she led us back up the path, she spoke in a calm tone. "Again, George? And Clay, you too this time? Jasmine only told me that you guys ended up in the water. What happened?"

I started explaining. "Well, Clay stood up and cheered because he got a fish, but then he started falling. I tried to reach out to him, but he ended up dragging me down too."

"Oh, that's not that bad. I thought you guys, like, jumped in." Mrs. Blaire looked a lot happier now.

"Nah," I chuckled.

"Well, I'm in charge of the assignment, so I think I can get away with something. Originally, I was going to have you do the work separately, but it's probably easier if you do it together. Plus, you can be more efficient. How's that sound?"

"That'd be great," I chirped, beaming.

Mrs. Blaire nodded at me. "Alright. Don't make me regret it."

We walked the rest of the way to the campsite, chatting happily. As Clay and I broke off to grab new clothes, Mrs. Blaire said, "Meet me at the building lobby. I need to print it out."

We nodded and fished a new set of clothes from our bags. Both of us took a stall in the bathroom and quickly started changing. I kicked off my flip-flops and stripped, slipping into my new clothes. It felt nice to be in dry underwear after walking for so long in wet ones. 

I returned to the campsite to put my soggy clothes away, holding them carefully over my arm. Clay entered the tent as I was about to leave and did the same. Together, we left for the building, a tense silence between us.

The work wasn't difficult and was actually easier to do together, but we only focused on getting it done. We barely talk to each other, only speaking to share information. We had been just fine before - why were we so distant right now? Does Clay blame himself for this?

"Hey, Clay, what's up?" I asked, writing down the last answer on the paper in the dim light of the lamp. The sunlight outside had all but vanished - instead, dark clouds loomed overhead, threatening rain.

"Nothing really."

"You seem upset."

"It's... I'm fine. Don't worry."

I didn't know what else to say. Sighing, I scribbled some more words on the paper and announced, "I think it's done. I think everyone's coming back by now. Should we go to the dining hall?"

"'Kay." He stood up and left briskly, leaving me by myself. I felt frustrated. Was it something I had said? It couldn't be, since I hadn't said anything that would do anything like that. I got up and followed him into the nearly empty central hall; it seemed only one class had gotten back yet.

I grabbed some food and sat down at our usual table, next to Clay. Suddenly, a huge group of people came through the door - they must have finished their activity. Nick, Bad, Zak, and Alex joined us at our table with their plates.

"Oh my God, I'm still laughing," Nick said, holding his stomach.

"Why?" I asked, curiously.

Nick wheezed. "She TOTALLY thought you guys were a couple."

I flushed pink again. "I- what? No!"

"She was like, 'Are you two..?' and then just said nevermind!"

I rolled my eyes. "C'mon, nobody assumes two guys are dating unless they're pretty much kissing in front of them."

"I dunno. I could see it," Bad said.

"You too..? Listen, she probably just thought we were brothers or something."

"You don't look like siblings at all. She SO thought you guys were together."

"Just shut up," Clay scoffed, sounding genuinely angry. The five of us looked at him in shock, not knowing what to say.

He looked annoyed that we were staring at him. "What? You guys are being annoying, and George is clearly upset."

We looked at each other. The way he spoke was one we knew meant that he was seriously pissed. Silently, we ate the rest of our dinner, watching the sun go down. The food tasted bland without the usual chatting and laughing, though.

The camp director, whom I had only seen at meals before, stood up to say something. "There's a thunderstorm coming tonight. We're going to have you sleep in here for tonight, and since you're sleeping here tomorrow night too, we need to take down the tents. While this isn't required, we'd like to have you guys take down the tents tonight, if you feel like it. If you want to participate, please meet your teacher at the campsite. Otherwise, return to the room where you were before. The key is on the nightstand."

I looked at Clay and shrugged. "I guess we could. What do you think?"

Clay shook his head. "I'm kinda tired, sorry. I'll just head to the room. Grab my stuff for me."

"Fine by me," Nick said, stretching. "Hold down the fort for us, okay?"

Nick and I left out the door and towards the tents. On the way, Nick asked, "What do you think is his deal? Like, he's been acting weird, right?"

"Yeah. I dunno either. But now that you mention it..." I trailed off, thinking.

"What?"

"Could it be about what you said? Well, not what you said, but Jasmine?" I said, not wanting it to be true.

"About you two?"

"Yeah. He's been acting weird ever since we stopped fishing."

"That's interesting..."

"Well, I'm sure there's nothing of it. He must just be annoyed that we got in trouble," I said quickly, trying to assure myself.

"Riiight." He rolled his eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You two are SO in love. Like, anyone can see it."

"Oh, come on. It's not like that."

He laughed. "Pretty sure it is."

"You're so annoying."

"Whatever. Anyway, let's get to the campsite, I'm getting cold."

We sprinted the rest of the way, the bright light of several lanterns greeting us. Andrew stood in the center of the tents, instructing everyone on how to take down the tents. I followed the instructions absentmindedly, my thoughts still dwelling on how Clay had been acting. Surely he just was worried about me... but then, why would he be so dry? Plus, he knows that I'm fine with those kinds of things really - I do get embarrassed, but I never act like this.

A loud clap of thunder shook me from my thoughts.

Andrew clapped his hands. "Alright, everyone, that's our cue. Please quickly return to the building."

There was shuffling about as everyone grabbed their stuff and dashed back to the building. I grabbed Clay's bag, slinging both mine and his over my shoulder. When I got into the room, Clay was fast asleep. I gently laid his bag on the ground next to him before getting ready for bed myself, thousands of thoughts buzzing around my head.

Maybe I really did have a chance.


	10. Just Friends

I had trouble sleeping last night. Part of it was the thunder loudly shaking the room every couple of minutes, but most of it was because of my brain just trying to figure everything out. Even after hours of tossing around, I wasn't any closer to figuring out Clay.

Finally, I decided to stop trying to get any more sleep. Stretching, I sat up in the bunk, pushing the blanket off me. The rain pitter-pattered the window gently, leaving droplets of water on the glass. I pulled out my phone and was surprised to see that it was already 8:24. The storm clouds outside blocked the rising sun, so it seemed much earlier than it was. I looked over at Clay; or at least, his empty bed. I shot up straighter, panicking. Where did he go?

That was until the door opened and Clay stepped in, who was putting his phone away and looking happier than yesterday.

"Oh, George, you're up," he said pleasantly.

I nodded. "I got scared when I saw your bed was empty. Where were you?"

"Just calling someone."

"Who?"

He sighed. "Um... my mom. She wanted me to check in with her."

"Oh." I turned my head toward the window, watching the storm.

Clay followed my gaze. "It's really coming down out there, huh?"

"Yeah. Can't believe it's still this strong when it started last night," I agreed, watching the branches on trees sway.

"Wonder what we're gonna do today? You know, with the rain and stuff."

I turned to look at him. "Same. I can't really think of anything they can do indoors."

There was a tense silence between us as our eyes met. Clay looked uncomfortable as if he wanted to say something.

"Um, Clay-"

"About yesterday-"

We stared at each other again. I wanted to hear what he was going to say. "What?"

"Oh, um... sorry for being like that. Yesterday."

"It's fine."

"It's just... I was already thinking about my parents, and when Jasmine said that... basically, my parents not exactly accepting of that kind of thing. My mom hates that I hang out with you."

"Okay, but..."

"And then you started getting uncomfortable too, so... yeah. That's why."

"Oh." His explanation only confused me more, but I didn't want to push him further. "Well, it's all good."

"Thanks." He sat down on his bed, pulling out his phone and scrolling through it. I sighed, grabbing out my phone to do the same. I wasted time for an hour until my peers woke up, with lots of stretching and yawning.

The six of us took turns changing and left for the dining hall, a wonderful breakfast awaiting us like always. Clay was talking to everyone normally again, meaning the food seemed to be fuller. I sat back in my chair, satisfied with the meal, and waited for the usual announcements.

Today, the announcements were given by the camp director, who told us all that we could call her Rosie. She said, "Due to the unfortunate weather conditions outside, we will instead be doing a few demonstrations in the morning here before hopefully returning outside for the afternoon. I ask that you all return to your rooms briefly so our staff can set up this room. We will alert you when it's time to return."

There was some mumbling from the class and scraping of chairs as everyone stood up to leave. We packed through the double doors and went back to our room, sitting on our beds and chatting. After about ten minutes, a bell rang on the PA system. Taking this as the sign to go, we returned to the dining hall.

At first glance, it seemed to be the same as usual. The tables were still in the same places, and each still had six chairs around them. However, the stage at the front had a few props set up, presumably for the demonstration. The food had also been cleared from the counters to the kitchen, with the shutters being pulled down to block the large openings between the two rooms.

"Welcome, everyone!" Rosie greeted, holding a microphone. "Although we can no longer practice these activities outside, we have done our best to recreate them here. Please welcome Mr. Moore, who will be your survival professional today."

A man, looking to be in his late 20s or early 30s, took the microphone from Rosie and said, "Hey, guys! Shame we couldn't be outside, but we'll have to make do, yeah?" He had a British accent and spoke confidently, almost exactly like a stereotypical nature documentary narrator.

There were some lethargic nods throughout the room, but no one verbally responded. Mr. Moore continued, "You guys can call me Oliver. No need for all of that fancy stuff." He took a pause, staring around the tables. "We're going to start with stuff that we can demonstrate without needing the supplies. Now, who here knows the rule of three's?"

Clay raised his hand begrudgingly, along with a few other kids around the room.

"Let's see... you there." He pointed a boy I knew by sight but not by name. "Can you tell us what they are? Make sure to be loud."

"Well, you can survive 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food. Just as a general rule, I guess."

"Good, but there's also another one - 3 hours without shelter. Those rules are good to know for survival because your priorities should be based on those. Obviously, the 'three minutes without air' rule isn't too applicable, but it's worth mentioning that you can also only survive three minutes in icy water. But now that we have those out of the way, it's time to get into the actual skills that we can do in here."

Oliver started droning on about basic survival skills and demonstrating them to us, calling random people up to assist him. I wasn't worried - I didn't raise my hand to volunteer, and he generally only called on people raising their hand, so I should be alright.

Or at least, I should have been.

"Another thing you'll want to know if you're surviving with more people than just yourself is the best to carry someone. There are lots of ways, but a lot of them may be worse for you than you think - take bridal style, for example. You see it in movies, but often this can strain your back and will wear you out. One of the best ways to carry someone if you're by yourself is the fireman carry. You also see people in the military use this one because it's objectively the best way to carry another person on your own. I'll use my test dummy first, then I'll ask two people to come up and do it."

I watched listlessly and he picked up the small, sand-filled dummy and put it around his shoulders, holding both its legs and wrists.

"This is how it should look when you're doing it. Let's see... how about you two there? Gray shirt and blue jacket?"

I snapped up straight. He was looking directly at Clay and me. There's no way... he was surely talking about someone else behind else? Another duo with someone wearing a grey shirt and the other wearing a blue jacket?

My heart dropped when Clay sighed and got out of his chair. He looked at me and nodded his head toward the front, indicating we were going up. 

This is just fucking perfect. 

Clay and I stepped up to the stage, looking over the sea of people staring back at us. Most seemed uninterested, but Nick was clearly holding back laughter. I restrained myself from rolling my eyes, instead choosing to turn to Oliver. He beamed, clearly unaware of the embarrassment he was putting me through.

"Alright, guys. What're your names?"

"Clay."

"George."

"Right. So, Clay, you're taller, so it'd be easier if you were to carry your friend George here. I'm going to explain the instructions to everyone and you guys are gonna follow them, okay?"

Just friends. Right. That's what we were. You'd think that if he was literally carrying me in front of dozens of people, we'd be something more. But nope.

We nodded. I was worried I was blushing, but if I was, Oliver didn't comment on it. I accepted my fate as he addressed the crowd again and began instructing us on what do to. Clay had to do all the hard work, luckily, so I went on autopilot to cope with the fact that I was being carried by my crush in front of literally my entire grade. 

Somehow, he did it, and I realized that I was hung over Clay's shoulders. He was holding my wrists and ankles tightly, which was definitely awkward for a lot more reasons than the straining. Though it wasn't the most comfortable position, both of us just held that pose until otherwise instructed.

We were saved by Oliver, who said, "Alright, that's it! Thanks, guys, you can go back now."

I awkwardly slid off of Clay's back and to the ground, drudging over to my seat and planting my head into the table. Nick sounded like he was going to explode into uncontrollable wheezing any second now.

After calming down a bit, he whispered, "Rip George. You looked so uncomfortable up there."

"That's 'cause I was," I groaned, keeping my head down. "Out of all the boys, he just had to pick the gay one."

Clay shrugged. "Guess so."

"C'mon, it's unlikely you're the only gay one," Bad said.

I chuckled. Bad always tried to make people feel better. "Well, it's probably something he didn't consider anyway. Let's just forget it."

Everyone turned back towards Oliver, concluding our conversation. My attention on the topics was completely lost, though. I was thinking way too far into what just happened. I honestly doubt anyone else thought too much of it, but I did. A lot.

After what seemed like days, Rosie ended the demonstration by announcing, "That's all, guys! Please thank Mr. Moore for coming and teaching us. Otherwise, lunch will be out in a couple of minutes, so you guys can stay in your seats."

Talking erupted in the room once again as the teachers and staff removed props from the front. I didn't have much to talk about with my table, so I just responded to questions and otherwise looked around the room aimlessly. The kitchen shutters had been opened, so I could see the kitchen staff preparing food expertly. It was mostly done - they were just setting out a few more sandwiches and bringing out the plates.

Once it was all done, we were all allowed to go get food like usual. I grabbed my favorites and returned to my seat, Clay following close behind. We took our seats and ate the freshly prepared food, talking about this afternoon.

"It looks like it's stopped raining. I wonder if they're gonna make us go outside?" Clay wondered.

I nodded. "Probably. Honestly, I'd prefer it over in here."

"Same. That was fucking BORING." Nick sat back in his chair and yawned.

"Language," Bad warned, earning a laugh out of all of us.

"God, I just hope Clay doesn't have to carry me again. That was... a yikes."

Clay shrugged. "I dunno. Looking back at it, it was kinda fun."

I giggled to hide my blush. Well, if he liked it, then maybe it wasn't so bad.

What am I talking about? It was just a joke between friends. Not implying anything else.

Lunch was soon over and it was time for the usual announcements. This time, it was once again delivered by Mrs. O'Perra.

"We will resume regular outdoor activities this afternoon. These will include a compass scavenger hunt and shelter building. Please follow us outside so we can arrange groups."

Everyone stood up, throwing away trash and returning trays. We all packed out of the double doors and made our way outside, following the small group of teachers out towards the treeline. We stopped short of it, a pile of supplies sitting in the middle of a group of counselors.

Mrs. O'Perra stepped in front of everyone, which was difficult considering she was wearing high-heeled boots. "Alright, everyone - we're here. We will begin with using a compass to navigate to designated spots, and ideally, we will all be back in time to build shelters. Every counselor or teacher will have a walkie-talkie, so if you do get lost, you won't need to worry. The groups are..." She looked down a paper that had been hastily folded in her pocket, listing, "Brianna's and Johanna's trios will be with Val; Jake's and Dave's groups will be with Colin; Clay's and Bad's groups will be with Mrs. Blaire." 

As she read off each of these, she pointed to the relevant teacher or counselor, so Clay, Nick, Bad's group, and I left towards Mrs. Blaire. She greeted us with a smile and pointed to a bag near her feet. "Here's what we're going to need. Who's going to use the compass first?"

Bad volunteered, raising his hand. Mrs. Blaire nodded. "Alright, Bad will go first. Who's going to read the list?"

Nobody volunteered, so after a while, I stepped up. "I will, I guess."

"Great." She handed me the sheet of paper with a list of directions on it which didn't make much sense to me but were definitely legible.

She handed out notepads and pencils to the remainder of the group and together, we went toward the starting point marked by light blue paint on a tree. With a look around and a nod, we started our journey.

The route was full of trees, but they weren't dense and didn't really pose much of an obstacle. The first instruction was only 203 paces north, which was easy. There were a few fell trees we went over or around, but for the most part, it was smooth sailing.

Once we got to the spot, marked with an orange post, I read off the next instruction. "Um... it's 167 paces northeast to the purple one." 

Bad nodded and passed the compass to Clay, who seemed to have some idea as to what he was doing. Confidently, he stepped in a direction and we all followed. There was a little bit of chatting, but we were more focused on walking. This leg of the trip also went smoothly, so then the compass was passed to Zak.

As we approached the next destination, the forest became denser. I was paying attention to every sound in the environment. I don't have many phobias, but I'm definitely scared of everything about being lost in the woods. Granted, we weren't lost, but it definitely felt like it.

Despite my worrying, though, nothing bad happened. We made it to each checkpoint with little interesting happening, aside from a few fell trees we jumped over or the occasional large rock. Finally, we exited the woods, where a few other groups already stood.

Rosie smiled at us. "You're right on time. How're things?"

"It went well. No injuries or anything," Mrs. Blaire reported, sounding relieved.

Rosie shook her head. "Good. Colin said he saw a bear, so I'm a bit worried, but everyone else is alright. I was just about to radio them."

Mrs. Blaire was shocked. "Really? Glad we didn't see one. We're doing shelter building next, correct?"

Rosie nodded. "Yep! It should be fun. Until then, you guys can go sit or stand with the others."

Mrs. Blaire motioned us to follow her to the other groups and we sat down on the grass. Slowly, more groups appeared from the woods in different spots. The treeline was eventually full of people loudly talking and laughing, so when the last of them arrived, Rosie quickly stepped up with a megaphone.

"Hello, everyone! Good to see you're all alright. Next, we will be doing shelter building. This will be supervised, but not assisted, by your counselor or teacher. Please come up here to get the instructions."

Eagerly, Bad hopped up to grab a paper. He returned with the new list, whose instructions made much more sense to me. Once Rosie gave the go-ahead, everyone went into the woods again and started getting supplies. I was grabbing sticks that seemed suitable enough - they had very specific descriptions as to what the sticks should be, so I couldn't grab just any stick.

After carefully selecting tree limbs and sticks, we started building the actual shelter. The instructions were definitely for a one-maybe-two-person shelter, considering the size of the dimensions. We continued working until the sun began setting beneath the horizon, brilliantly illuminating the decently-built lean-to that the six of us had constructed.

"It looks okay," Zak commented, stepping back from the small construction.

"Yeah. Who's going in first?" Mrs. Blaire asked, smiling slightly.

Everyone stood still, nobody volunteering. Mrs. Blaire looked around, sighing, "Well, if no one wants to go first... how about George and Clay?"

I nodded. "Alright."

Clay shrugged and said, "Sure."

I crouched into the lean-to, sitting on the left side. Clay squeezed in on my right, but there was barely space for him. Honestly, if we were any closer, it could be considered cuddling.

Not that cuddling would be a bad thing. Two guys, watching the sunset, cuddling in a small lean-to. In an ideal world, that's what we'd be doing right now. But the world isn't ideal. 

So we weren't. Instead, I was awkwardly pushed up against my crush, our elbows and legs touching. Because of this, I didn't stay long, quickly switching out for Nick. Clay didn't stay long either and we just stood and watched as the rest of our friends took turns squeezing into it. Eventually, when the sun had sunk beneath the horizon and everyone took turns inside the shelter, Mrs. Blaire told us it was time to go. Yawning, we returned to the camp building, where dinner was waiting for us.

As usual, we ate and talked. It didn't occur to me until just now that this was almost the end of the trip. That was the main topic of conversation tonight; everyone was talking about how they enjoyed it and reminiscing about what happened.

To me, twisting my ankle felt like a few months ago, not just 2 days. This trip seemed to be lasting so long that I felt like I wasn't going to adjust back to living at home and going to school normally, though I probably would.

This sentiment was also present in the post-meal announcements, where Mrs. O'Perra said, "Tomorrow's your last full day, guys! This trip has gone incredibly well so far, so don't lose that tomorrow!"

We were dismissed and I got ready for bed, showering quickly. It wasn't a huge deal anymore really, considering how accustomed I had gotten to it. Slipping into my nightclothes, I plugged in my phone, having not charged it for the whole trip. Finally, I drifted off into an exhausted sleep, having no dreams in particular with one thought on my mind.

Was it really just yesterday when Clay wasn't talking to anyone?


	11. Confrontation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is very long. Like, 8.5k words long. I don't recommend reading it all at once.  
> \--  
> This chapter contains a TW for a scene of violence and stronger language, including slurs, marked by a sentence in bold and a dividing line later on. There will be a trigger-free summary in the end note for those who skip that section.

I opened my eyes slowly, looking at the sun beating in from the window. Everyone else slept soundly in their beds, bundled tightly in their blankets. Sighing, I turned over to the nightstand where my phone sat. I unplugged it and checked the time - 8:56. That's late. I guess I must have been extra tired last night.

I stretched out my arms and tossed off my blanket. I didn't want to wake everyone up yet, so I instead grabbed my clothes and changed in the bathroom. Once I finished, I checked myself out in the mirror. My hair was a little bit of a mess, but I otherwise looked fine.

After hastily fixing my hair, I exited the bathroom and looked around to see if anyone else was awake. Bad and Zak seemed to both be awake, but the rest were definitely sleeping. I sat down on my bunk and grabbed my phone to start scrolling through social media. Eventually, everyone else woke up in time for breakfast and once everyone got a chance to change and talk a little bit, we headed towards the dining hall.

Today's breakfast felt wholesome. Everyone was smiling and excited for today's events while also eating great food and overall feeling happy. I couldn't tell what it was - maybe the fact that it was the last day of the trip, or maybe because we were out of the rain from yesterday. Whatever it was, it was definitely welcome.

As usual, once we were finished, Mrs. Blaire stepped up to make announcements. Today, she began with a wide smile and said, "It's your last day, guys! No more educational stuff; just some fun competitions. Promise they won't be as boring as Tuesday's."

Everyone laughed a little bit before quieting down again. "So, this is going to work in three teams. To make it easy, each team is a homeroom class - so my class will be the red team, Mrs. O'Perra's class will be the blue team, and Ms. Mendoza's class will be the yellow team. We will be your team leaders for this event." She paused for a moment, looking around at everyone's reactions. "We'll explain the rest outside. Please follow Ms. Mendoza and Mrs. O'Perra to the field."

I turned to the back of the room, seeing that our other two teachers were standing there and propping the doors open. Everyone stood up and started walking out the door, eyes adjusting to the bright sun outside. The trees swayed in the slight breeze as I looked on at the large field next to the camp building. Lots of canopies had been set up here and there, presumably marking where we would do each competition.

Everyone gathered near one of these canopies, under which our teachers stood. Mrs. Blaire dashed to get to the front and continued her introductions.

"Now that we're all out here, let me explain how this is going to work. We are going to do a few competitions. Depending on what place your team gets, you will receive a certain amount of points. Getting first place is 3 points, getting second is 2 points, and getting third place is 1. The team with the most points at the end of the day will earn next Friday off from school."

Cheers erupted from the crowd - the stakes were set high. Pretty bold of them to have that as the prize, but I'm all for it.

"But!" she yelled over all the talking. "We still expect you all to be sportsmanlike at all times. These are fun events so you can get active, and we will not tolerate any unsportsmanly behavior. With all of that out the way, however, it's time to begin!"

There were more cheers as Rosie stepped up, holding a megaphone. "We will begin with a baton race. The rules are simple. Since there are so many of you per team, each team will have 3 separate races. The order of winners will be decided by which team has the fastest time when all entries are added up. Your teachers, or team leaders, will spread you out so each race has an equal amount of racers. Everyone understand?"

There were a few nods around the group. Mrs. Blaire started directing our team toward where we would be running and spread us all out. My line was going to be started with Clay, then me, then Bad, then Zak, and then a few other guys and girls who I didn't know well enough to recognize. Nick was sitting out this round, being the only extra team member for us.

I stood in my line, looking around. The other lines were being completed and soon, I got the signal from Mrs. Blaire that it was starting. I looked back at Clay. He smiled, holding the baton and getting ready to go. I smiled back, blushing a little. Luckily I wasn't near enough for anyone to notice, so finally, the whistle blew and Clay started running. I watched in awe as he sprinted in perfect form toward me. I knew he did track and that he was more athletic than not, but I was still impressed. Before I knew it, he was approaching me, holding out the baton.

"Go!" he said, skidding to a halt as I grabbed the small foam rod. I started running as hard as I could, doing well for a while. It couldn't be longer than a 30-second sprint, but even then, I didn't have much stamina and started to stumble at the 20-second mark. I was only a few meters away from Bad, though, so I pushed myself forward and passed the baton. As he started sprinting away, I took a seat on the ground, wheezing. It was barely 11 AM and I was already exhausted.

After sitting on the ground for a while, I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around and was met by Clay, who somehow still looked energetic.

"Hey, George," he sighed, looking towards the racers in front of us. "That wasn't as bad of a sprint as I thought it'd be."

"Easy for you to say. I don't think I can walk."

"It's probably not that bad. Here." He extended his hand to help me up. I took it and pulled myself up, blushing. "Looks like Dave already finished for blue, but maybe Kris could get second for us." He indicated a blonde girl at the end of our line sprinting towards the finish line.

"Maybe," I agreed, looking at her. She did end up taking second place, which I hoped ended up winning us this race.

After everyone had finished, Rosie called for everyone to come to the finish line. Clay and I walked side by side, meeting up with everyone under a large, grey canopy. It was almost the size of a wedding marquee, minus the walls.

She came back from talking with the teachers, who were poring over a clipboard with their phone calculators open. "While we determine who won this race, please grab a cup of water. It's hot out today, so it's important to stay hydrated." She pointed to the far end of the canopy. "There are three coolers over there with cup dispensers next to them. Go use them."

I eagerly went over and grabbed a small cup of water, downing it almost instantly. Though it wasn't enough to completely quench my exhaustion, the ice-cold water certainly helped me feel better. We were standing around for a while before Rosie was ready to announce the results.

"Good job to everyone! All of the final times were really close, so don't feel bad if you lost. Without further ado, the results are as follows: the red team won first with a combined time of 7 minutes and 56 seconds. Following close behind with a time of 7 minutes and 59 seconds is the blue team, and - this was incredibly close - the yellow team with a time of 8 minutes on the dot."

There were cheers and groans from the crowd as each time was announced. I was punching the air in celebration - we were already in the lead. Clay was grinning excitedly.

"This means," Mrs. Blaire said loudly, trying to get everyone's attention, "that the point standings are now red with 3, blue with 2, and yellow with 1. Don't worry about the amount right now - things can always change by the end of today. We'll stay on break until 11:15 when we will do the five-legged race, gladiators, and the obstacle course race."

"That's a lot," I commented.

Clay shrugged. "Doesn't seem like those would be as tiring as the baton race. Plus, we get a break."

"I guess," I sighed, sitting down on the ground again. He sat down next to me, smiling. We chatted a little bit before Nick found us.

He took a seat on my other side. "How're you guys?"

I shrugged. "I'm good, I guess."

He nodded. "What about you, Clay?"

Clay sighed. "I'm alright. I might have worn myself out too much for the first competition, but other than that..."

"You did really well," I complimented, punching Clay's shoulder playfully.

He smiled. "Um... thanks."

"Simp," Nick snickered.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes bashfully. Clay laughed awkwardly, standing up to get more water. Nick and I started talking about random stuff and Clay joined in, wasting away the break with giggles.

When it was time, Mrs. Blaire called everyone to the front of the canopy and began explaining how the rest of the morning would go.

"We'll do the next three activities in turns. Some groups will be doing the five-legged race, some will be doing the gladiators, and some will be doing the obstacle course. After 25 or so minutes, the groups will switch. Like the baton race, the best scores or times from each of these will be added up, and points will be distributed separately for each game. Everyone got it?"

Most people nodded in understanding. Mrs. Blaire continued. "Good. Now, we'll divide you into the groups that will be doing it..."

She, along with the other teachers and counselors, started organizing us into groups. Clay, Nick, and I would be doing the three-legged race first with a few other people. Andrew, the counselor from the tent building, was in charge here.

"Hey, guys! So basically, we have these velcro bands that you will wrap around your ankles together. It's up to you what order you want to do, but I'd recommend putting the tallest person in the middle."

Nick and I immediately looked at Clay. He was easily the tallest of the three of us - Nick and I are both about the same, average height, but Clay was a good half a foot taller than we were.

"This is a lot harder than a three-legged race would be, so take your time or you'll fall. Now, with that, come get the velcro straps! You might need two per binding."

I grabbed some of the brightly-colored velcro straps and returned to my friends. Together, we struggled to put them on, eventually having our legs tied together loosely. Clay was tightly holding on to mine and Nick's shoulders while we wrapped our arms around his back. Walking was definitely awkward, but we got a slight rhythm down as we went to the starting line. When everyone was ready to start, Andrew got his whistle ready. He began counting down. "3... 2... 1..."

He blew the whistle and everyone started hobbling towards the finish. Barely even 4 feet in, people started tripping and falling. Clay, Nick, and I were slowly shuffling along, bickering.

"Clay, you're going too fast!" Nick said, out of breath.

"Stop turning that way!" I complained.

Clay scoffed. "Screw it. George, I'm picking you up."

"You- what?" I said, shocked. We had stopped moving, though it was barely noticeable. 

Suddenly, I felt Clay wrap his arm under mine and he hoisted me off the ground. He grunted in exertion before panting to Nick, "Let's go."

"Wait- um..." I stuttered, but they kept going. Honestly, I had no objections; no one would notice anyway since my feet were only an inch or so off the ground. The increase in progress was noticeable relative to everyone else, and we passed the finish line first. Clay let me down with a sigh, panting loudly.

"You okay?" I said, concerned.

Clay took a few wheezing breaths. "Yeah, you're just... a lot heavier than when I did the fireman's carry."

I shook my head. "No shit. I dunno why you did it anyway."

He looked back at the people still racing, grinning. "Well, it worked. We won by a pretty good amount."

"True." I looked over toward Andrew, who was writing everyone's times down as more people crossed the finish line. Once everyone finished, he called everyone over and concluded the event.

"Good job, everyone. We will release the final results after the last group, so for now, please wait until the next switch in about 5 minutes."

Everyone grabbed some more water and rested briefly until Rosie's megaphone-enhanced voice rang out. "We will now be switching games. Those of you at the five-legged race, please head toward the gladiator station. Those of you at the gladiator station, please head toward the obstacle course. Those of you there, go to the five-legged race. Don't dawdle for too long."

Andrew spoke up, waiting a few seconds to make sure the message was over. "Well, you heard her. The next station is over there."

The location where he was pointing was another empty field, but this time, there was a cluster of small, foam dodgeballs in the center. As Nick, Clay, and I made our way over, I commented, "So it's just dodgeball. The name makes it seem really intense."

Clay nodded. "I feel betrayed. I wanted some Minecraft Hunger Games type thing, not that."

"You're not even good at Hunger Games," I scoffed.

"No, _we're_ not good when I do duos with you."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."

When we arrived, a counselor, whom I recognized as Colin, energetically greeted us. As everyone slowly started filling in, he began the rundown of the rules.

"Hi, guys and gals! Although this may look like normal dodgeball, it has a few custom rules. With three teams and so little time, there will no way to get back in the game if you are knocked out. When you're knocked out, sit or kneel on the ground so I can tell. The winner will be the last team standing, and to help tell that, please put on these belts." He indicated a pile of strips of fabric colored either red, yellow, or blue. I picked up a red belt and tied it around my waist like instructed, but Clay did his belt around his wrist a few times, and Nick wrapped his belt around his head like a headband. Colin didn't seem to care, though, as he started spreading us out into three groups to start battling. We all started intensely at the pile of dodgeballs in the center, waiting for the signal.

The signal came as a loud whistle and everyone started sprinting towards the balls, grabbing a few each and quickly backing away. I swiftly looked around, making sure no one was trying to throw a ball at me. There weren't that many people on each team, luckily, so I was able to sneak around and make a plan. It seemed like a lot more people were focused on Clay, so I pelted someone in the chest and he turned to me, scowling. Reluctantly, he sat down. I didn't have time to celebrate my victory, though, since someone on the yellow team was trying to get me. I ducked to avoid the first ball but ended up having to dive and avoid the second. Just as I thought I was going to get hit, Clay jumped in front of me and caught the ball. He talked to me without looking back, eyes still carefully following everyone.

"You good, George?"

"Y-Yeah," I stuttered, fumbling to get up. I picked up a ball that was lying on the ground and continued charging forward. The throwing went on and on until, soon, the blue team was all gone. Colin was providing commentary.

"And that's the last blue team member! It's just red and yellow now - who's going to win?"

My team already had a few people down. In fact, the only ones left standing were me, Nick, and Bad. The yellow team still had 5 or so people standing, and I was getting tired. Nick went down just as Rosie's voice rang out marking the end of this station.

Colin quickly stepped in, saying, "You guys can stand up now. The yellow team gets first here, red is second, and blue is third. Quickly return the balls to the center and belts to the pile and head to the obstacle course that way."

Like before, he pointed to the next station, which looked incredibly fun without being childish. In a way, it reminded me of those challenges you see on Survivor minus the intensity. Unlike Survivor, though, our host was not a dude. It was Val, the fish lady.

"How's it going, everyone?" she waved, beaming. "Everyone excited?"

"Yes, actually," Clay whispered to me. "This thing looks great."

I nodded excitedly in agreement. "Yeah. Can't wait to try it out."

"This is pretty difficult and it's easy to hurt yourself, so please, _please_ take your time. Also, George-" I looked up when my name was called. "- I'm sorry, but I don't think you should participate. This is a high-risk activity, so..."

I wanted to protest, but I knew it was useless. Instead, I asked, "But won't the teams be inequal?"

"No. We're having 1 person sitting out from each team anyway, but normally there's a choice, so I thought I'd let you know. Sorry."

I sighed resignedly, bidding Clay and Nick good luck before going to sit towards the side where Val had indicated. The other people sitting out were two girls who were happily talking to each other, clearly uninterested in the race anyway.

I watched as Val explained the rules for the rest of the group. I wasn't paying too much attention, but it sounded like the course was divided into sections where only one person could be in each section at a time. If you fall on a section, you would go to the back of the 6-person line and the next person would try. The first team to have everyone reach the end would win. Sounds simple enough.

After everyone lined up at the beginning of their course, Val announced, "Alright, we're all ready. Remember, don't take any unnecessary risks, and if you break the rules, your team automatically gets last. Ready, set, go!"

Clay was in the front of the red team's line and he quickly dashed towards the first obstacle, which was simple hurdles. He limberly and smoothly hopped over each of them, reaching the next obstacle in only a few seconds. He was already in the lead, though not by much. 

I watched in awe as Clay took more and more of the lead. Though it didn't seem that difficult, I was still impressed at how well he was doing it. His face contorted slightly as he pulled himself up platforms and ladders or traversed a thin beam. It was - for lack of a better word - hot.

I watched, entranced, as he made it to the end. He was the first to finish outright, but a blue team member followed closely behind. I watched as more and more people filled in until a whistle blew, startling me. Turning to find the source, I was met by Val, walking up to everyone at the end. "It's time to go to lunch!" she announced happily. "Good work guys. Red team wins, the blue team is in second, and the yellow team is in third."

There were groans and cheers as the results were announced. Red had gotten everyone, whereas blue was missing one person and yellow was missing three. As Clay came over, I offered a high-five, which he took energetically, grinning.

"That went great!" he said, rubbing his palms together.

Nick sighed. "I'd say so too, but I scraped the back of my foot and it fucking hurts."

I grimaced. "Yikes. I hate getting scraped there."

"Tell me about it. Well, hey, at least we won," he said, looking around at the crowd, who preparing to depart. We followed suit, strolling to the large camp building. Personally, I was ravenous and couldn't wait for lunch, so I was strutting at a faster pace than usual.

When I got into the building, the cool A/C washed over my warm and exhausted body. I gratefully filled a plate and took a seat at our usual table, Clay and Nick doing the same. Bad, Zak, and Alex were already there and having lunch.

"I wonder how everyone else did?" I asked, looking around.

"I'm sure everyone did just fine," Bad said, wholesomely. "But I do hope we won."

Clay nodded confidently. "We definitely did. I mean, our group got first, second, and first on all of our games, right?"

"Yeah. Although I'm not sure if the first race was entirely deserved," Bad said, with a knowing look.

"What's that supposed to- oh. You noticed?" Clay laughed, shaking his head.

Bad nodded quietly. Everyone laughed about it for a bit before we continued having our lunch in silence. Finally, the eagerly-awaited post-meal announcements were up.

"The results of the morning's events are as follows:" Mrs. O'Perra's crusty voice rang out. "First place for the five-legged race is the blue team. Second for this race was the red team, and yellow took third. The dodgeball was won by the red team, followed by yellow and blue. Finally, blue won the obstacle course, while red got second and yellow got third."

Rosie stepped up and beamed at all of us. "Good job this morning, everyone! This leaves the point standings incredibly close, and depending on who wins this next game, the order could completely change. So, coming in last place is the yellow team with 5 points. The red team is next with 7 points, and blue is in first with 8 points. To spice things up, the next game will distribute points differently. First place will earn 5 points, second will earn 3, and last will earn none."

Mrs. Blaire took the mic after Rosie finished. "The next game will be Capture the Flag. While I'm sure most of you know essentially how to play this game, I'll explain it anyway. Each team will have a territory where any non-team member can be tagged and sent to jail, which will be marked by a metal pole in the center of each territory. To get out of jail, one of your teammates must come to tag the jail. This will release anyone on their team, but not other teams. Since we have three teams, there is a no man's land in the center of each territory, in which nobody can be tagged. The exception to this is if someone has a flag, in which case being tagged will make them drop the flag and go to the tagger's jail, and then the flag can be picked up by another team, regardless of if it's that team's flag or not. Each team has three flags, and every flag you collect is added onto your total. If a team runs out of flags, they are not out; instead, they can try to regain their flag count from other teams. You can only take one flag at a time. Everyone understand?"

The group nodded excitedly. I haven't played capture the flag since I was a little kid, so it was fun for it to have a twist on it like this. 

Mrs. Blaire smiled. "In that case, let's head outside. I'll show you the sections."

We all left out the doors and into the field again, feeling energized from eating and resting. I noticed that a few poles had been put up with different colored ribbons connecting them. I assumed that these marked the territories that Mrs. Blaire referred to. They created a large triangle with four smaller triangles inside of it, similar to the Triforce, and the ribbons were colored either yellow, red, or blue. Each section had three flags, side by side, near the back, while the middle of each triangle had a short pole, just as Mrs. Blaire had said.

She started directing people towards their respective territory before she herself stood in the center of the entire arena. "A few additional rules. First, no going out of bounds. Obviously, we understand if you're running and can't stop in time, but no taking a shortcut to get to another team's flag. When you get a flag, you can drop it next to your current flags. If a team were to collect all 9 flags before the time is up, that will count as their victory and neither team besides them will get points. Lastly, any foul play by anyone will immediately disqualify your team. We have lots of staff watching, so don't try. Rosie will be counting down shortly, so get ready."

Everyone turned to Rosie expectedly, who was checking the time on her phone. Looking up, she shouted, "In 5..."

I looked around at the other teams, seeing how they were doing.

"4..."

I sighed, facing the center.

"3..."

I took a position, ready to run.

"2..."

Changing my mind, I stood up straighter again so I could back up and defend.

"1."

Everyone started running every which way. Some people were making a fence along the border between the no man's land and their territory, while others were recklessly charging into other bases to grab flags. I took a stand near my group's jail, watching for anyone who wasn't on the red team. I got someone before they could even get past the pole, but the rest of her team was too busy in the blue team's base to get her. This left me to look around at what my friends were doing. Clay and Nick were dodging around people, trying to get the yellow team's flag, but Nick got caught and went to jail. Clay immediately got him out, along with another girl on our team.

The game was starting to cool off some as people figured out that charging straight ahead wouldn't do much good. Lots of people fell back to form a plan, though a few stragglers still ran between bases. They got caught immediately, though.

This was fine for me until Clay was caught. As soon as he was, I saw the blue team starting to rush us. I dodged between them to get Clay out who, on the way back, managed to get a person who had taken one of our flags. He picked it up and I helped him return it. Since the blue team's gambit had failed and a good chunk of their team was now in jail, the yellow team tried to get one of their flags. Although they managed to snatch it, Zak intercepted them on the way back to their base. Together, he and Bad brought it back. We were now in the lead.

The game continued intensely as teams lost and gained flags almost at the same time. It seemed like whenever someone lost a flag, they immediately got one back, causing nobody to have the right colored flags in their base anymore. We still had two red flags, but our other two were yellow and blue.

The sun was nearing its setting when Rosie's voice rang out. "10 minutes left."

Everyone stood still in shock for a few moments. The game was incredibly close; both red and yellow had 4 flags, while blue was stuck at 2. Clay quickly turned to me and Bad, who happened to be next to me. Nick was stuck in yellow's jail.

"Listen, guys, I'm going to charge one of blue's flags. While they're distracted with me, I want you guys to sneak in behind me," he proposed.

"But won't you get caught?" Bad said, concerned.

He nodded. "Probably, but that's the point."

I scoffed playfully. "God, you guys act like it's a war. He'll be fine."

"So you're on board?" Clay asked.

"Yep."

He looked at Bad. "And you, Bad?"

"Of course, you muffinhead."

"Great. Let's do it."

The three of us carefully approached the border. While people were distracted, we ran as fast as we could. Reasonably, someone immediately noticed us, and Clay split off from Bad and me. As people started chasing him, Bad and I went around, avoiding the much smaller crowd chasing us. He snatched up a flag, causing an uproar.

"He got it!" someone shouted. "Darryl has the flag! Get him!"

Clay quickly caught up with me. "Go, Bad!" he shouted, grinning from adrenaline.

"Go!" I echoed, sprinting after Bad like my life depended on it. People started closing in on both sides and even some yellow team members started running from their base to catch me in the center.

"George, here!" Bad said, tossing the flag to me just as he got tagged. It was light, but it didn't float, so I caught it and managed to get back into my territory before anyone caught me.

Panting, I dropped the flag off with the others before placing my hands on my knees and wheezing. Clay sounded ecstatic.

"Fuck yes! You did great, George! I should go get Bad and Nick..."

"Zak did that already," Bad said, startling us.

"That was impressive!" Nick said, beaming wildly. "Damn. My heart was beating so hard just watching you."

"Yeah... well, it was Clay's idea," I said, sheepishly.

"We're not done yet," Clay warned, looking at everyone else. Both yellow and blue were ganging up on us now - we had the greatest lead. In response, our team had turned to purely defense; Clay, Bad, and I were positioned near the flags, and since it was at the vertex of the triangle, there was no way anybody could sneak from behind us.

After what felt like only a few seconds, a whistle blew somewhere. The game was over. We won.

"That was incredible!" Mrs. Blaire squealed, failing to hide her glee at her team winning. "Great job to the red team, who will not be coming to school next Friday."

The sound of the yells and cheers that broke out was so loud it almost hurt my ears. The red team, including Clay, was making noise for the sake of it. The yellow team still looked impressed with themselves, and honestly, good for them.

After the noise quieted a little bit, Rosie shouted, "But now, it's time to go swimming. Go get your bathing suits on, guys."

People slowly started wandering toward the camp building, some staying behind to talk about how the game went. I went early with Clay and Nick since none of us wanted to stay outside. When we got back to our room, I changed first, followed by Nick and then Clay. I had to restrain myself from staring at Clay's bare chest; although I was verytempted, I didn't want him to be uncomfortable.

The three of us slipped into our flip-flops and grabbed our towels. I had a rainbow towel because I'm extra, while Clay sported a green and white striped one. Nick just had a simple black one. We left just as Bad, Zak, and Alex returned to change. We nodded to them before leaving out the front door into the bright afternoon skies.

Mrs. Blaire was beckoning everyone from the red team over happily. After a few headcounts, she decided she had everyone and started speaking. "Amazing job again, guys. You crushed it. With the lake, please be mindful of everyone around you. It's not too deep where you're allowed to swim, though, so you should be fine. Now, follow me."

She briskly walked off on the path that I recognized from the second night. The destination, though, was much more visible in the day.

Mrs. Blaire carefully slid down into the spot she was sitting at when she was watching the other night. She waved her hand toward the water. "What are you waiting for? Hop in."

I was near the front, so I quickly dashed toward the shoreline and leaped into the dark water. It was frigid, and the cold wasn't helped by Clay jumping in and splashing me. Nick followed, preferring to walk into the water towards us. His expression showed he wasn't the only one who was cold, as did his shouting. "Jesus fucking christ, this is cold!"

"Language!" Bad scolded, wading in behind him. He looked bizarre without glasses on. "It's always you, you little muffinhead."

Nick scoffed. "What? Clay and George cuss all the time."

"I'm kidding," Bad giggled. "You're all muffinheads."

Clay smiled, punching Bad's shoulder playfully. "You're a muffin."

"Owie," Bad pouted, making the human equivalent of the :( face. We all laughed wholesomely before Bad suddenly splashed Clay.

"Hey!" he protested, sputtering. "You got it in my mouth!"

"Good. That's what you get for using my muffin joke against me."

"Well... take this!" Clay laughed, splashing Bad back. This evolved into a full-on water fight between Clay, Nick, Bad, Zak, Alex, and I. As more people arrived, we had to stop since Mrs. O'Perra scolded us about six times and started threatening severe punishment.

Still wheezing, Clay floated over to me. "Hi."

"Hi," I said, blushing for no reason.

"We should do something else..." He trailed off thoughtfully, looking at the rest of our makeshift group.

I raised my eyebrows. "Like...?"

"Like... hm..." Suddenly, he went underwater. I felt something at my legs and was prepared to kick, but then I felt something grab my legs and lift me out of the water. "Like this!"

I stuttered. "Clay!" I said, looking around. "People are gonna get the wrong idea-"

"It's fine. Hey, you guys wanna do a chicken fight?"

"Sure!" Bad said, diving underwater. He was lifting up Zak, who, like me, was surprised and sputtering.

I heard Nick mutter something to Alex. "I guess we're both third wheels with these lovebirds."

Alex shook his head. "No. Those guys - Zak and Bad - they're not... a thing. Just an inside joke, I guess."

"Well, George-" Nick began, but I shot him a death glare. He shut up, smirking. 

I returned my attention to the battle that was about to start. Zak and I were staring at each other, giggling, while I felt Clay adjust his grip around my ankles. Our two carriers nodded at each other before they started charging. I braced myself against Zak, who gave a good push, but I managed to hold on by throwing my arms tightly around Clay's neck, strangling him.

"Sorry!" I said quickly.

"It's fine," Clay choked, laughing.

I returned my attention to Zak, and with a strong push, I knocked him off balance. Unlike me, he couldn't secure himself in time, so he fell backward, bringing Bad down with him. They splashed loudly as Clay cheered happily. Suddenly, he gasped and lost his balance, sending us both crashing into the water on top of each other.

I came up for air, gasping. I was smiling ear to ear as I watched Clay come up and shake his sopping hair out of his face. We all laughed for a while before calming down and talking amiably, everyone smiling the whole time.

Finally, when the sun had nearly set, we were called to get out of the water. I waded to the shore and quickly made for my towel. Since I had grown accustomed to the lake's cold temperature, I was now freezing outside of it. I gratefully threw it around my shoulders, drying my hair and chest. Once that was done, I wrapped it around my waist, lightly drying my legs and letting gravity take care of the rest. I just picked up my flip-flops instead of sliding them back on, as forest debris had stuck itself to the bottom of my foot.

As we walked back up the path, Clay yawned, "God, I'm tired."

"Same. Swimming really takes it out of you, huh?" I agreed.

He looked down, sighing. "No, it's like, worse than that. I'm, like, sore."

"Well... you did do a lot." I looked at his well-sculpted arms and chest that had been doing said activity.

"Yeah. I hope we can just pass out after dinner."

"Same."

When we got back, the sun had completely set behind the trees, the sky dark blue. Mrs. Blaire stopped our group just outside the front door.

"We have a special dinner event for everyone tonight, but I'm going to ask that you all shower beforehand. When you're done, you can come straight to the cafeteria. Don't take too long."

Clay groaned quietly, but he led the way to our room so we can grab our stuff. The shower was uneventful, but I did smile a little bit when I thought about how this should be the last time I'd have to use a public shower. Unless I go to prison, which I don't plan on.

After changing, I combed my hair neatly and put up my towel. I was just sliding on a flip flop when Clay walked in, looking a little pissed.

"What's wrong?" I asked, standing up. Nick looked up from his phone.

Clay shook his head, wet hair swinging about. "Some idiot was shit-talking you to me."

"Who?" Nick said aggressively. Despite being mostly lazy, he got intense when it came to people messing with Clay or me.

"Just that douche Jack. Don't bother."

I groaned, rolling my eyes. Jack. He had the ego of being the school fuckboy without the charm toward any gender. Nobody liked him, even though he got the impression that they did. The main reason people didn't like him was that he always tried to make himself look better by degrading everyone else. Last year, he would be nasty to me because I was gay, but I learned to ignore it as everyone else did with whatever he'd pick on them for. I don't blame Clay for getting annoyed, but most people knew better.

Nobody said anything else. After Clay dropped his old stuff off in his bag, we stood up to go to the cafeteria. When we got there, though, the overpowering smell of pizza filled the air.

I looked towards the kitchen. The "special event" Mrs. Blaire was talking about was, in fact, pizza. There must have been 20 or so boxes of pizza sitting behind the counter. The counters themselves were filled with plates holding two fairly sized slices of pizza. Some people were already sitting down with their plates, so, with a glance toward each other, Clay, Nick, and I left to get plates of our own. 

Even though swimming made me hungrier than usual, I could tell the pizza was high quality, which was far higher than I was expecting. They'd ordered 20 large pizzas - you think they'd want something cheap.

"This is some good shit," Nick said, mouth full of pizza.

I only nodded, woofing down my slices. I didn't care about savoring them; they were too good.

The students finished far earlier than the teachers, so we had lots of time before announcements where we talked about the end of the trip. I wanted to hear everyone's opinions, so I asked, "What did you guys think of the trip?"

"It was fun. I especially liked the swimming just now," Bad said, adjusting his glasses.

"Well, I can't say I didn't like it," Nick sighed. "But today was definitely the best."

"I agree with Nick," Alex chimed.

"Me too," Zak said, uninterested.

Everyone turned to Clay expectedly. He looked back at us, shrugging. "Um... it wasn't perfect, but... I liked it because of you guys."

Bad smiled warmly. "What a wholesome muffin."

I scoffed sarcastically. "That's so cliche, but okay."

"Well, what about _you,_ George?" Clay retorted.

I blinked. "What?"

He rolled his eyes. "How'd you like it?"

I thought for a moment. _I really loved how much we got into awkward situations with romantic undertones. But I can't say that._ "Oh. Well... twisting my ankle kinda sucked. But I guess I liked today the best."

"I-" Clay began, but he was cut off by Mrs. O'Perra beginning announcements.

"Good job today, guys. I hope everyone had fun! I understand some of you may be tired, so feel free to head straight to bed if that's what you want to do. However, we are having a bonfire outside until 9, and you're all invited! We'll bring the first group over, but if you come over after that, make sure to tell the receptionist."

Everyone sluggishly got up. It seemed like most people were going to bed, but I looked at my friends and shrugged. "I mean, we could go."

Clay nodded. "Sure. Might as well."

This got everyone else on board, so we all followed Mrs. O'Perra outside a short distance to where a bonfire was lit far from the trees. I sat down somewhat far away from it, gazing at the fireflies. Clay joined me, looking up at the sky. Though it sounds cliche, I swore I saw the stars reflected in his eyes. The rest of our group was nearer to the campfire, talking with our teachers.

He smiled, looking around. There wasn't anyone nearby, but he still spoke in a hushed voice. "There's another reason why I liked this trip."

"What?" I asked, also speaking quietly. My thoughts went wild as I started severely overthinking what he probably meant.

"I'm glad I'm out of my house. I just wish I could move in with you or Nick."

"Oh..." I didn't want to ask about his family life, but the topic seemed to inevitably be drifting that way.

"My mom is such a prick. I just want to..." He trailed off and didn't speak up again for a while.

"Um... you want to... what?"

"George, I need to tell you something."

My heart stopped. What did he need to tell me?

The world was in slow motion. I watched as his hand slowly inched closer to mine. Surely it wasn't intentional; there was no way...

"George, I'm-"

"Hey, idiots!" a voice rang out behind us. Clay stopped and looked back.

I did the same and was pissed at who it was. It was Jack, looking like he wanted to cause some trouble.

**The warning mentioned at the top begins now. The next scene contains homophobic speech and violence. If you are sensitive to these, please skip the rest of the chapter.**

* * *

"What do you want?" Clay muttered.

"I wanted to have next Friday off, but thanks to you and that fag, I can't."

Several emotions overcame me at once, anger winning out. I'd never been called "fag" to my face, and while I'd like to say that words don't hurt me, it cut deep. 

Clay's reaction was worse. He stopped dead, getting up and turning around. Slowly, he said, "What the fuck did you just call him?" His voice was trembling with rage.

"A fag. Because he is."

"The fuck is wrong with you?" I interjected. "It's just a stupid competition. Plus, we were minding our god damn business, unlike you."

"What's wrong with _me?_ I'm straight. What kind of guy likes boys anyway?"

Seething with rage, I stepped to get closer, but Clay got there first. He was staring Jack down with the scariest glare I've ever seen on him. He was also taller than Jack, who looked a little less confident now that Clay was intimidating him pretty well.

Just then, Nick came over. His hearty laughter quickly stopped when he saw the expression on Clay and I's faces. "Woah, what's up?" he asked cluelessly, turning to Jack.

I shook my head slowly. As much as I wanted to see Clay beat this guy shitless, I didn't want to get anyone in trouble. Since Nick was here, the situation would probably escalate rapidly if we didn't leave. "Clay, let's just go. He's not worth it."

His knuckles turned white as he clenched his fist tighter, looking conflicted. After a moment of tense hesitation, he turned around and motioned for Nick and me to go with him. But then Jack fucked it all up.

"Yeah, listen to your little faggot boyfriend!"

Several things happened at once. Clay whipped around and decked Jack in the face. Clay caught him by the collar of his shirt before he could fall backward and started relentlessly pummeling his nose. Soon, there was blood on his knuckles, but it wasn't his own.

Clay threw him down and Nick joined in, having far less tolerance than Clay or I. They were brutally kicking him in the stomach, making him wretch in pain. I felt no pity for their victim, but his sobbing face and wrenching were pretty pathetic. The teachers had noticed something was up as soon as Clay threw the first punch and had finally made it over. Nick quickly stepped back, realizing how much shit he got himself into, but Clay didn't let up.

"Stop! STOP!" Mrs. Blaire cried. I grabbed Clay's arms and tried to pull them back, but he was still flailing his legs until he suddenly fell limp in defeat. The crowd that had gathered around the scene gasped as they were able to see the full extent of what Clay had done.

"Holy shit," I murmured to myself, looking at the figure on the ground. His face was a mess of blood and tears as he clutched his stomach. Before, I felt no remorse, but now, Clay had taken it too far. 

And he did it for me.

I shook off that thought. That wasn't important right now. I don't know how much trouble Nick and Clay are gonna get into, but I hope I can at least alleviate it somewhat.

Mrs. O'Perra arrived with Rosie, both of who were sporting an expression of disgust and disappointment.

"Clay, Nick, and George, you're coming with me. Now. Blaire, please take Jack to the nurse," Rosie said, trembling.

Mrs. Blaire nodded grimly, attending to the sorry-looking boy on the ground. I didn't have time to pay attention to that, though, since Rosie ushered Clay, Nick, and I away. All three of us were looking at the ground without saying a word.

The walk back to our destination felt like an eternity as Rosie took us down a hallway that turned off of the hallway with our room in it, leading to doors that were spread apart randomly and labelled things like "Electrical Room" or "Janitor." One of these was labelled "Director's Office," and it was here where she took us.

The room was a small, standard office with a bookshelf on the right and a desk in the dead center, a decent-looking laptop on top of it. As she sat down in her office chair, she moved the laptop to the side and indicated some chairs in the back. Each of us grabbed one and silently placed it in front of her desk.

She tapped away at her phone quickly before putting it down and looking at us. "So. What's the story?"

We all started talking to her at once, causing her to put her hand up. "Actually, I have a better idea. I'm going to ask each of you separately, so if your stories don't line up, I'll know you're lying. Clay, you first. There better be no talking in here while we're outside."

Shaking, I looked at Nick. He was resting his head in his hands stressfully, looking drained. I felt the same way but was too shocked to show it.

Clay and Rosie were outside for 10 or so minutes, but when they came back, they were followed by Mrs. Blaire, Mrs. O'Perra, and Ms. Mendoza, who looked like she didn't want to be there.

Rosie gave us the rundown. "One of us is going to stay here and watch you while the rest of us listen to your testimony. Who wants to go outside with me? Ms. Mendoza?"

"No, no, leave me out of this," she said, holding her hands up.

"Alright, you'll stay. George, you're up next."

I stepped outside with the three adults nervously. After making sure the door was properly closed, Mrs. Blaire interrogated me gently. "Can you tell us what happened?"

"Clay and I were just sitting at the bonfire when Jack, like, came up to us for no reason. He was salty that he lost, I guess. And he started calling me... words..."

Mrs. Blaire pressed her lips tighter, probably knowing what he called me. "...What kind of words?"

I took a deep breath and looked at each of my interrogators. They all knew, didn't they?

"I... he called me a 'fag.'"

"In what context?" Mrs. O'Perra said, sounding suspicious.

"I don't know!" I said. "He just came up to us and said something like 'I wanted next Friday off, but thanks to you and that f... fag...'"

They looked at each other with a nod. It looked like my story matched up with Clay's, at least for now.

"What happened after that?"

"He kept harassing us. Clay got angry when he called me that, but he kept saying it. Then he started saying that... how he's better because he's... n-normal... no, straight..."

Mrs. Blaire and Rosie looked sympathetic; after all, I was the only one out of Clay, Nick, and I who didn't physically attack Jack. Strangely, though, Mrs. O'Perra was expressionless, as if she thought there was nothing wrong with what he said. But I'm probably looking too far into things, especially since I'm extra self-conscious about myself now that Jack basically called me abnormal.

Since none of them said anything, though, I kept going. "That's basically when Nick came and since he's... sort of aggressive, I didn't want the situation to escalate. I tried getting Clay to go, but..."

"But what?"

"Jack said, exactly, 'Yeah, listen to your little faggot boyfriend.'"

Mrs. Blaire looked mortified. Rosie was a little shocked too and seemingly didn't want to keep me for very much longer, so she said, "And that's when Clay started..?"

I nodded shakily. I wasn't sure how long I could keep my composure for; it felt like I would break down crying at any moment.

The three looked at each other for a second before Mrs. Blaire said, "You should... um... go to bed, George. There will be no punishment for you. I'll let Nick and Clay know where you went."

It was phrased like a recommendation, but I knew it was an order. I nodded again and slowly left to go to my room, collapsing onto my bed without even changing. I was physically, emotionally, and mentally tired. I fell asleep instantly, not even having the energy to worry about what just happened.

But what was going to happen to my friends?

**8455 Words**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger-free recap: Essentially, Jack came up and started harassing George and Clay and used a slur on George, so Clay and Nick beat him up.


	12. Chapter 12

I woke up late, my eyes firmly closed. I didn't want to get up. Last night was painful. It hurt to think about what I was called or what Clay did. I wanted to check my phone, but I was too tired to do that, too.

After many minutes of stressful lazing, I finally opened my eyes and looked around. Clay was missing from his bed, which was now neatly made with no trace of him or his bag. I leaned to the side of my bed to look up, and sure enough, Nick's bed was also empty. I didn't worry too much about what happened to them since I'd probably see them on the bus anyway.

I tugged my phone from its place in my pocket and saw that I had a lot of texts from Clay's, Nick's, and my group chat. Opening it, I saw that they were trying to fill me in on what happened. I started from my most recent text and scrolled down a bit until I saw some relevant words.

 **Nick:** george ur asleep rn so we'll tell u abt it now and u can read when u wake up  
 **Nick:** so basically theyre suspending us for a whole w e e k 🙃  
 **Clay:** mhmmmm  
 **Clay:** cant believe ill be stuck at my house the whole time 😔  
 **Nick:** wym  
 **Nick:** we can use that time to hang out  
 **Clay:** haha no  
 **Clay:** i am SO grounded 👊😔  
 **Nick:** oof  
 **Nick:** well im tired af gn  
 **Clay:** gn

While those texts were obviously from last night, the next texts were labelled as being from this morning, pretty much from right now.

 **Clay:** oml george  
 **Clay:** theyre making us eat breakfast early bc they dont want us being with everyone else for some reason  
 **Clay:** ffs theyre also gonna make us sit with the teachers on the bus  
 **Clay:** need to wake nick up see ya

My heart dropped. So we would be separated for the rest of the trip, and in Clay's case, I might be able to see him for a week.

The rest of my roommates were getting up, so I put my phone away and stood up, stretching. I still had day clothes on from yesterday, so I didn't bother changing. Instead, I made sure everything I brought was secured in my bag before heading to breakfast early. Maybe I could catch a glimpse of Clay and Nick.

I was disappointed to find out that they were not there. Still, there weren't many people, so I grabbed my usual seat but didn't get food. I tossed my bag to my feet, sighing. I sat down with my hand propping up my head sloppily. I thought about texting Clay and Nick, but I didn't want to inconvenience them, so I instead focused my thoughts on yesterday.

First, I tried remembering all of the positive things about yesterday. Clay picked me up and we had a water fight; that was fun. Then there was the bonfire, where we sat together under the stars. What was it he wanted to say?

_"George, I need to tell you something."_

_My heart stopped. What did he need to tell me?_

_"George, I'm-"_

I returned my focus to the table in front of me. What was he? Was he gay? No, right? I mean, It's unlikely he's even bi or pan. As much as I wanted to believe that he was, I shouldn't give myself false hope...

"Hi, George!" Bad said, startling me. I saw his trio behind him, holding various breakfast foods and generally looking tired but happy.

"Hi," I said, smiling weakly.

"What's wrong?" he asked, sitting down next to me.

"It's... Clay and Nick are just being separated from me, and they're both getting suspended."

"No way! That's not fair," Zak said willfully.

"No need to make me feel better. It's probably what they deserved, considering how badly they fucked that prick up..."

"He should get the same for calling you those awful things." Bad patted me on the back and smiled a little more. "Did you eat?"

"Yeah," I lied. I didn't want them to worry about me more than they were.

Bad nodded. "Alright. I'm always willing to talk if you need it."

"Thanks." I leaned back in my chair a little, looking at the chattering crowd. There was already gossip about what happened last night; it seemed like anyone who hadn't been there was now filled in on the entire situation. Luckily, no one seemed to know that Clay and Nick were suspended, judging by the whispered questions of "Where'd they go?" or "What happened?

That's why when Mrs. O'Perra stepped up to her usual spot everyone quieted down, expecting her to comment on it. However, she did not, instead speaking warmly about how great the trip was. I was sick of it; it wasn't great anymore now that my two closest friends were suspended for a week because they gave a bigoted prick what he deserved.

The boring speech went on and on before she finally said, "And now, it is time for us to leave. Please say a big thank you to Rosie, all of the other counselors, and the kitchen staff for making this stay so enjoyable. Otherwise, please grab your bags and head to the bus."

I eagerly got up, assuming Nick and Clay were already on the bus. If they were, I'd at least be able to see them once. I followed Mrs. Blaire, who pulled out a clipboard and took my name down first. Looking at my face, she sighed sadly. "George, I'm sorry. They're not on there. Mrs. O'Perra's keeping them until everyone's on."

"What? But-"

"We don't want them being bombarded with questions."

"That's-"

"It's _final,_ George," she said, cutting me off. 

I sighed in defeat, grabbing a random seat on the first floor of the bus; it wasn't as magical as the first time. I scooted toward the window and laid my bag at my feet, looking outside at the trees and birds. I briefly saw my two best friends as they left the building, but they quickly went behind the bus and I lost sight of them.

I wasn't paying attention when Bad slid in next to me, so I jumped when he meekly greeted, "Hello!"

"What is it with you and always sneaking up on people?" I asked.

He shrugged apologetically. "Sorry. I didn't know I did it."

"Um... why'd you come to sit here?"

"You looked lonely, and I feel like you want to talk about last night," he answered, honestly.

I smiled internally. Bad really did try to make everyone's day better.

The bus started moving as I answered. "Well, I don't."

"Well, the bus is already moving, so I can't sit anywhere else. I'll be here if you change your mind."

"Thanks." I watched as he put an earbud in and started listening to music. I really did want to talk, but I couldn't bring myself to do it right now. But, after only a few minutes, I couldn't contain it.

"H-Hey, Bad?"

"Hm?"

"I... kinda want to talk about it..."

"That's fine. Where do you want to begin?" he said, taking out his earbuds and pausing his music.

"Well, it's just... there was something Clay was going to tell me before that happened."

"What do you mean?"

"He was like, 'George, I need to tell you something. I'm-' and then he got cut off."

"What's the matter with that?"

"It's... was he trying to tell me he was... g-gay?"

"So you do like him."

I nodded shakily. I was pouring my innermost secrets to a guy who I essentially only known as a friend for less than a week, but I felt comfortable with him, so who cares?

"Well, the only way you could know for real is telling him, right?"

"Yeah, but... how can I know if he likes guys? I mean, he was dating Jess for a while..."

Bad thought for a moment. "That doesn't necessarily have to mean anything. I'm not part of the LGBTQ community myself, but I've heard that we're still at the age where people figure everything out. Plus, he was like 13 when they were dating. Things could have changed."

"I guess..."

"I've known Clay for a long time. He's definitely not your average straight guy."

"That... doesn't have to mean anything necessarily."

"Do you want him or not, muffinhead?"

"I do!"

"Then why do you keep doubting yourself?"

I didn't have an answer. He was right. I had no reason to doubt myself anymore.

"Listen, I'm going to support you through this regardless of how Clay responds. You gotta go for it."

"You're right, and I will, but..."

"What now?"

I shook my head. "He's suspended for a week and probably going to be grounded. How am I supposed to tell him?"

"Assuming you don't want to do it over text, you should just wait. It's only a week at most."

I thought for a moment. He was right again; I didn't want to do it over text, and it wouldn't be long until I could talk to him again.

"I..."

"Do you finally get it?"

"...Yeah. Thanks a bunch, Bad."

"No problem. Let me know if you wanna talk about anything else."

"I will. Promise."

After confirming with me one more time, Bad put his earbuds back in and started listening to music. I decided to do the same, pulling out my phone and opening Spotify. I rested my head on the window as my playlist started playing.

It felt like the music was reflecting my improved mood and was even encouraging me; Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me" was on next. I laughed a little and sang along in my head, but once it was done, I felt myself slowly drifting off. I turned off my phone and let myself fall asleep, my mind still completely fried from the past 24 hours' events.

As was becoming a tradition, I was woken up by Clay, who looked relieved to see me awake. "Get up, we're home. I need to talk to you."

I looked around, noticing Bad had left in the sea of people trying to get off of the bus. Nick was locked in the seat behind Clay and me, blocked from getting closer by the menacing crowd.

"What's up?"

"I probably won't be able to talk to you at all for, like, the next week. So..."

"He's asking you to marry him," Nick joked, smirking.

"You're getting suspended too, you know," Clay snapped, looking a little flustered. "Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks. For making that trip fun."

"Oh... um... You made it fun too." I stared awkwardly at his face.

"Um... thanks."

There was a beat of silence before he reached out and hugged me. I returned it hesitantly, worrying about everyone around us. Suddenly, Clay looked up and gasped.

"Shit, that's my mom. I need to go." He scrambled backward, grabbing his bag from on the seat next to Nick and going down the emptying aisle.

"Bye," I said sadly.

"That was... entertaining," Nick snickered.

"Shut up," I blushed, prying my bag from the ground. "I'm probably walking home. You wanna come with?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm good. Probably quicker for me to go straight home."

"Alright." I threw my bag around my shoulder and stepped off, looking around. It felt good to stretch my legs as I walked toward the sidewalk, but a car honk startled me.

Looking at who it was, I saw my mom in our car, waving. I shrugged, turned around, and stepped towards her. I dumped my bag in the backseat and crawled into the passenger seat, buckling my seatbelt.

"Hi honey," my mom said, shifting the car out of park. "Mrs. Powell told me everything. Are you okay?"

"Mrs. Powell?" I didn't recognize the name, but then I remembered that it was Mrs. Blaire's last name. "Oh, Mrs. Blaire. Yeah. It sucks, but..."

She shook her head. "Those things should never have been said to you. I am so sorry."

"Mom, I'm fine. It's just some stupid words."

She smiled weakly. "That's good. Apparently, Clay and Nick are suspended, too. I don't think they're a bad influence on you or anything, but I am disappointed in them."

"What? You're not their mom," I scoffed sassily.

"First of all, don't be sassy with me. Second of all, Clay may as well be my second child, he's around so much. I don't mind now, but the only reason you don't have a sibling is because young Georgie was such a pain. Imagine having two little boys!" she laughed.

I winced a little bit at the sibling metaphor but covered it by giggling.

She continued. "I mean, you even have that mattress under your bed always dressed so he can sleep on it."

"Well... I think he has it hard at home," I sighed, thinking about what he's opened up to me about over the past week.

"I know. He's always apologizing and explaining, so he's told me a few things about his mom and dad. Apparently, his dad works abroad a lot, and his mom forces her beliefs onto him and his sister."

I felt awkward that I was essentially gossiping about Clay with my mom, but I didn't get this stuff confirmed to me outright until now.

"That... sucks. He told me he's probably gonna get grounded." 

"Poor thing. I always love having him over, especially because of your little crush on him."

"Wh- Mom!" I said, flustered.

"Never underestimate my mother's instinct. I've known since you first started liking him."

I rolled my eyes. She's a great mom and all, but sometimes she can be annoying.

We pulled into our small driveway and I grabbed my stuff from the car as my mom opened the door. As I stepped into the familiar confines of my home, I took a deep breath. My cat excitedly pawed at my foot. I smiled, leaning down to give him a scritch or two behind the ear. Before anything else, I took my bag upstairs and changed into different clothes.

Now I needed time to think.


	13. We Need To Talk

"George, are you sure you're okay?"

My father was sitting across from me at the dinner table. My mom had a late shift today, so it was just us two in the house, plus my happy little bean curled up on the couch.

"Yeah, Dad, I'm fine," I assured him for the thousandth time. 

He heaved a heavy sigh. "Alright. Just know that your mother and I support you 100%, and no one should hate you for who you like."

"I know." I took a small bite of my dinner. "He was just trying to provoke us anyway."

"Are you really just going to let this go? I mean, I'm sure I could probably ask the school to punish him-"

"I'm not letting it go, I'm just... Clay and Nick fucked him up bad enough, you know?"

"Language," he said sternly.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"But still... I can't forgive him for calling you those things."

"You think I can? The only reason I'm not suspended too is because Clay got to him first."

We stared at each other for a tense moment before I spoke again. "Listen, Dad, I don't want to cause any more trouble. I've heard his family, like, presses charges on some of the people who fight back. If Jack gets suspended or something, what if Clay or Nick..?"

"That's... I hate to say it, but they are probably in their right to do that. So, you're sure you don't want to do anything?"

"Yes," I said, exasperated.

He sighed, looking defeated. "You're a good person, George."

"Um... Thanks."

We ate the rest of our dinner in silence, and after washing some dishes, I promptly left for my room. My cat followed, hopping down from the couch as my dad sat down next to where he was. As I entered my room, I let my cat dash through the door before closing it. To my dismay, though, he immediately hopped on my gaming chair, curling up on the seat. I tried shooing him off, but he didn't budge, so I collapsed on my bed in defeat.

After contemplating what I should do for a while, I decided to take an early shower. I grabbed my pajamas from my dresser and headed to the bathroom, turning on the water to a fairly hot temperature and stripping down. 

I stepped into the scalding water, happy to be in my own shower for once. I took my time to make sure I was thoroughly clean, carefully scrubbing my ankle that had been twisted. It barely hurt anymore, though, so it wasn't too much hassle.

Once I finished my shower, I stepped out and dried off, turning off the water. I threw on my pajamas and took my old clothes with me to my room, where I tossed them on the floor. My cat had still not moved from my chair, so I scooped him up and put him on my lap as I turned on my PC.

"Baby," I said softly, petting his head. Now that I was here, though, he didn't want to be with me, so he wriggled out of my arms and dashed away.

"Why don't you like me?" I sighed, returning my attention to my monitor. Once Discord loaded, I saw that Clay was offline. He was almost always online at this time of night, so I knew that he was grounded for sure.

Nick, however, was still online, so I talked with him for a bit. We eventually decided to play Minecraft together for a little bit, jumping on Hypixel and doing some casual SkyWars. Neither of us was particularly amazing at PvP, but we did win a few rounds. After one of these victories, we sat in the lobby for a while longer than usual, talking.

"How'd your parents take it?" I asked.

"They pretty much blamed Jack for everything and were chill with what I did, so I basically get a week off," he said, nonchalantly.

I shook my head. "Not really. I mean, you still have work to do."

He winced audibly. "Ugh, don't remind me. Mrs. Blaire's making me go to get my work every day at like 4 PM. Actually, speaking of Mrs. Blaire..."

"What?" 

"I heard her have a huge argument with Mrs. O'Perra the other day. After you went to sleep. I meant to tell you yesterday, but we were separated all day, so I kinda forgot."

"Oh. Who won?"

"I dunno for sure. I mean, it sounded like Mrs. O'Perra wanted to punish you too, but Mrs. Blaire was defending you. I know I heard Mrs. Blaire call her a 'bigot,' though. It was pretty cool."

"Really? I wonder... I always suspected that she had something against me, but I never knew why. But... maybe she's a homophobe?"

"She should be fucking fired," Nick said indignantly.

I was too tired from these kinds of conversations to make a meaningful debate about the topic, so I just hummed in agreement. I heard muffled talking on his end before he suddenly said, "Looks like I have to go. Good night."

"'Night. Talk to you tomorrow." There was a small ping as Nick left the call and I did the same. Even though it was only 9 PM, I didn't have anyone else to talk to and little else to do, so I opted to just go to sleep for the night. As I crawled under my covers and turned my lights off, I thought about how I'd come clean to Clay about my crush. But first, I'd have to wait until we can see each other again.

Here's to hoping that time is sooner rather than later.

\--

Monday morning was refreshingly average. I got dressed groggily before heading downstairs to grab some cereal. It seemed like my dad was still asleep, so I quietly slipped out of the house after finishing my breakfast. The brisk morning air bit at my arms as clouds speckled the dim sky. My walk was otherwise uninteresting, and soon, I had reached the large, brick building of my school.

My day seemed depressing without my two closest friends with me. Although I had Bad, Zak, and Alex, they still stayed to themselves mostly and were in a lot of separate classes. This left me alone for most of the day.

Before leaving for lunch, Mrs. Blaire came over. "George, can I talk to you for a second?"

It was phrased as a question, but it seemed like an order. "Um... sure."

"Alright. Bring your lunch."

I nodded, grabbing my bag and following her to her classroom. As we walked in, she took her seat at her desk and indicated me to bring a chair and sit across from her. I brought up the nearest desk chair and sat in front of her, pulling out my lunch and unpacking it. Mrs. Blaire brought out a small Tupperware for herself but didn't open it.

"So, I should probably tell you what's going on. Normally, you'd be having this talk with your guidance counselor, but she's already having meetings with Clay and Jack, so I'm filling in. First, I want to make sure that you're alright."

"What do you mean?" I asked, taking a bite of my sandwich.

"Well... Those words Jack said were incredibly hurtful, so I'm worried."

"It's just some stupid words. He wasn't even putting meaning behind them," I said, willfully.

Mrs. Blaire looked concerned. "There's no shame in being hurt by those things, George."

"I know. They do hurt, but I got over it."

"Well... if you're alright, there's really nothing to worry about. Just feel free to talk to me if you want."

"I will," I assured her, truthfully.

After a little more friendly discussion, we both finished our lunch. The bell rang just as we finished cleaning up, so I grabbed my stuff and prepared to go to my desk for English. I looked out the window and saw that the slight cloudiness of earlier had turned into a full overcast; it looked like it was about to pour.

I sat anxiously through my class until the final bell rang and I dashed out of the school building. It was definitely going to rain, so I needed to get home as soon as possible. As I approached my house, I felt small drops of rain start to fall on me, so I hustled up the road. I had just managed to reenter before the skies opened up, rain slashing the pavement and thudding on the windows.

"Just in time," my dad chuckled, sitting at the kitchen table.

I kicked off my shoes and tossed my backpack by the door. My cat came up to my ankles and purred, so I scooped him up gently and sat down on the couch to watch the rainfall with him.

After a few minutes, my phone buzzed. I checked it and saw that my mom had texted me and asked me to meet her at the door. I assumed she had gotten groceries or something and wanted help, so I stepped to the door and opened it.

My mom was there, but in front of her, face to face with me at the door, was...

"Clay!?"

"George, um... Can I tell you something?"


	14. Confession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains a TW for parental abuse and homophobia. You can skip the marked section without missing too much story.

"What-? Why are you here? _How_ are you here?" I stuttered.

Clay's pale face was wet from the rain. He looked shaken, which confused me. I knew he could get emotional, but fear was not one of the ones I've seen.

"George, I-"

"Inside," my mom barked, hastily grabbing some groceries from the trunk. 

Following orders, Clay stepped in with me and moved toward the kitchen. My dad seemed to already know what was going on and didn't ask questions; instead, he moved some of his papers off a chair so Clay could sit down. A tense silence filled the air as we waited for my mom to finish grabbing everything from the car.

As my mom set down the bags of groceries, she sighed. "I... found him at the store. He was getting out of the rain because he had run away."

Clay spoke up. "She was going to kick me out anyway. I just left before-"

My mom looked shocked, which was unlike her. "But she didn't say so? Your parents are probably worried sick about you-"

Clay quickly corrected her. "My phone's been on this entire time. I haven't been anywhere with no reception. The first thing they would have done would have been to call me... if they cared."

"Clay..." I began, but my mom cut me off.

"We'll keep you for now while George's father and I discuss what we're going to do. Why don't you two go upstairs to George's room?" she said, looking a little stressed.

I nodded at Clay. Together, we set off up the stairs and to my room, where we shut the door and took a seat on my bed. We looked at each other awkwardly, our gazes meeting at each other's eyes. He quickly looked toward the window, hiding his face.

After a moment, I spoke up again. "Um... do you want to play Mario Kart? Or..."

"Yeah, Mario Kart is fine." He seemed out of it somehow, as if he were hiding something.

I turned on my Switch and booted up Mario Kart. We held a small conversation as we played reservedly. I was worried about Clay. He wasn't nearly as talkative as usual and his tone was dry. It reminded me of that day on the trip, except this time wasn't out of anger.

"So, um... how are you?" I asked, nervously.

Clay shook his head. "I'm... not really great at the moment. But I like being here with you."

I blushed a little. I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but him saying that meant so much to me.

"Why'd you leave? It's really raining out there."

He took a shaky breath. "Yeah. I should have thought about the rain, but... I just needed to get out of my house."

I hesitated for a moment, thinking. He hated talking about stuff like this. And yet... 

"...Do you want to talk about it?"

"You don't need to listen to me," he said quickly, but I insisted.

"I want to help you, Clay. Please."

"Are you sure? It's a lot..." he sighed, dejectedly.

"Tell me."

He took a second. "Well, um... my mom's pissed at the whole thing. Like I said, she really hates you and is 'disappointed' that I stood up for you. And then... well, I kinda told her to shut up. She snapped and started charging at me, but I ran out the door and... well, now I'm here."

I winced. "I'm so sorry, Clay... That's awful."

He smiled sadly. "Don't be. You didn't do anything."

I smiled internally. Even now, Clay was putting himself behind others. But I can't let him do that, especially when he needs the most help right now. "I just wish I could do more to help."

"You're already doing more than enough," he chuckled, insisting.

We stared at each other again for a moment, both of us smiling again. Clay seemed happier than when he first arrived, but he was nowhere near his usual, witty self. Suddenly, my mom burst in, finally having a plan.

"We're getting a pizza for dinner. Clay, you can stay overnight so long as you go home tomorrow."

"Okay," Clay agreed quietly. My mom left out the door and Clay and I resumed our racing. However, neither of us could get into the light-hearted fun of a Mario Kart game, and soon, Clay put his controller down somberly after one of our races was done.

**Trigger warning: mentions of parental abuse and homophobia. Look for the next bold line for when it ends.**

* * *

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I... need to tell you something."

"Oh. What... um... what do you want to tell me?"

He sighed. I saw his eyes dart around my room, looking for something to help him put off whatever he wanted to say.

"Fuck, where do I begin... um, I've already told you about my mom and how she views the LGBT community, so I guess I'll start by telling you how I know. Basically, back in 6th grade, I told her I liked a boy in my class. You know, in the way kids say they 'like' their crush."

My heart stopped. After all he had told me about his mom, there was only one way this could be going...

"Well, she flipped at that. She hit me. Told me boys could only like girls and girls could only like boys. Boys liking boys was 'sin' and 'unnatural.'"

"Did you... believe her?"

"I did. I'm sorry-"

I swiftly interjected. "Don't be. She's your mother; it makes sense you'd believe her."

He still looked ashamed. "I guess. Well, I thought that until you came out. I mean, I had always made the association that gays were horrible and stuff because of what happened back then, so when you told me that you were gay, I was confused. I mean, you're a good person. You're my best friend."

"So I helped you realize that she was spewing bullshit?"

"Yes. So much. But..." He trailed off and didn't speak up again.

"...what else is there?" I asked, knowing well what the answer was.

* * *

**It's safe now.**

He sighed shakily. "George, I'm... gay."

"Clay..." I scooted closer to him on my bed, placing my arm around his shoulders comfortingly. "Wait, but... what about Jess?"

"I dated her to prove to my mom that I wasn't. God, I was so stupid... I just used her. That's why it only lasted a couple of weeks. I felt too awful about it. I had no actual feelings for her because..."

"...Because what?"

"...because there was someone else."

"Who?"

He shook his head, placing a trembling hand on the bed behind him. 

"George, isn't it obvious? I love you. I've loved you for years."

His eyes were full of tears as he let out a little sob. I tried placing my hand on his, but to my surprise, he pulled it away.

"We can't... because... of my mom..."

He was full-on crying by this point. Quiet sobs filled my room, the rain outside still pounding against the window. I gently reached my hand out to cup his cheek, wiping away a tear before shifting my position so I was facing him better.

"Clay, listen... I love you too. That's all that matters. Nobody can tell us differently."

I leaned forward slightly. He matched my movement. Our faces were barely an inch away. I tilted my head sideways a little, moving my hand to the back of his head. Finally, our lips met, sending a shock down my spine. It was much more subdued than what I had been imagining for years, but that made it all the more perfect.

After staying like that for many moments, Clay pulled away.

I was flushed and breathless. "That was amazing."

Clay wasn't saying anything. The tears on his face were coming down faster as he muttered, "George, I... we can't do this... I don't wanna hurt you..."

He broke out into loud sobs, looking ashamed of himself. I pulled him in for a hug and he buried his face in my chest, muffling his cries. I softly placed my hand through his hair, letting him finish crying.

"It's okay. We'll work through it. Together." My heart was pounding, but I remained still. Soon, Clay's breathing calmed down until he completely relaxed, leaning further into my arms. He sounded like was asleep. Not wanting to wake him up, I gently laid my head on top of his, feeling a little drowsy myself.

Just as I was about to drift off, I heard my bedroom door open. I snapped my head to see who it was, clinging onto Clay protectively. I might have overreacted, though, since it was just my mom.

"Oh, did I... interrupt something?" she said, nervously.

I yawned, sitting up straighter. "A little. What's up?"

"The pizza's here. I've been calling up for you guys for a while, but if you want to stay here I can bring up a few plates-"

I shook my head. "I'll come down. Just... give us a second."

She nodded and closed the door quietly, noticing Clay was asleep. Once she left, I carefully laid Clay down on my bed. Although I'd have to wake him up relatively soon, I still wanted him to get some rest.

I looked down at my shirt. It was pretty wet where Clay was crying into it, so I decided to change it and avoid awkward questions. As I slipped on my basic white t-shirt and discarded my old blue one, I brushed a strand of hair out of Clay's serene face. I wanted to give him a kiss, but I didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

With a sigh, I left to go downstairs. My parents were sitting at the kitchen table, eating their slices. Once I came in, though, they looked at me excitedly.

"So... what's the story?" My mom said, grinning.

"Oh, we just... kinda... It just kinda happened," I stammered, blushing. I quickly grabbed some plates and started filling them up with pizza.

My dad smiled. "Well, you don't have to tell us now. But I do expect to be in the know soon."

"R-Right." I desperately finished piling pizza onto the plates and retreated upstairs to my room. 

Clay was still asleep when I opened the door, so I gently cupped his cheek and said, "Wake up, I have pizza."

He opened his eyes slowly, smiling up at me. "What time is it?"

I scoffed playfully. "You've been asleep for, like, 10 minutes. Still the same time."

"So it wasn't a dream?" he asked, hopefully.

"No."

"Prove it."

I giggled, leaning down and firmly planting a kiss on his lips. It was still a bit sloppy, but the sensation was amazing.

Smiling happily, Clay said, "You know, the one before... that was my first kiss."

"Really? Mine too," I said, beaming.

He chuckled beneath me. "Glad I could be yours. Again?"

I shook my head reluctantly. "As much as I'd love to, our pizza's gonna get cold."

"True. But after."

"I'm keeping you to that," I joked, sliding off of my bed and onto the floor, where Clay joined me in eating pizza. We were both ravenous, so neither of us talked while we woofed down our slices. While normally I'd watch something on my computer when I ate in my room, Clay and I were both too lazy to start watching anything, so soon, the sun was set and our plates were empty. It was getting a little late and Clay and I were both tired.

"Today has been... a lot," Clay said, sighing.

"Tell me about it. I never thought we'd... y'know." I shuffled toward him nervously, wrapping an arm around his waist.

"Mm? What is it?"

"Kiss."

"Sorry, I couldn't hear you. Wanna demonstrate it?"

"You're such an idiot," I said, grabbing his head and pulling him in for another kiss. Even by the third kiss, we were both improving our form.

After making out for a solid 15 seconds, we backed away again. Clay yawned loudly.

"I think I'm gonna go to sleep again," he mumbled, pulling out the mattress from underneath my bed.

"What, you don't wanna sleep with me?~" I said, teasingly.

"Maybe in the future. But I'm not sure if I want to right now."

"That's fair," I responded, stripping down into my underwear and clambering into my bed. Clay did the same, wrapping himself in the covers I lent him. As I flicked off the light, I reached my hand out from under my blanket toward the ground. Clay grabbed it, humming happily.

"One more thing before we sleep," Clay said, quietly.

"What's that?"

"Can I call you my boyfriend?"


	15. Restlessness

I woke up early, the sun barely visible in the sky outside my window. My arm was hanging limply off the bed. Clay snored lightly on the mattress on the ground next to me, his arm laying on the ground where we had been holding hands. He had thrown off his covers sometime in the night, revealing his bare chest. Judging by his breathing, he was definitely still asleep.

My phone said that it was around 6 AM, so I was plenty early for school today. I crept out of my bed and put on some clothes and deodorant, being careful not to wake my new boyfriend up. It honestly felt bizarre to call him that, but now it was the truth.

I started toward the door but hesitated as I grabbed the handle. As much as I didn't want to disturb Clay, I also didn't want to leave without telling him. After weighing my options, I decided to wake him up.

I clambered on top of his mattress awkwardly. Brushing his hair lightly, I said, "Clay, get up. I gotta go to school."

He stirred slowly, slithering an arm around my back and moving it toward my head. With his eyes closed, he said, "Morning, Georgie."

I smiled. "Good morning."

"Do you want a morning breath kiss?" he asked, opening his eyes slightly. 

I rolled my eyes playfully. "You're such an idiot."

He pulled his hand down to my cheek, caressing my chin with his thumb. "Is that a yes?"

"Duh." I leaned down carefully, supporting myself with my arms so I didn't collapse onto Clay. He leaned up a little bit and met my kiss gently, moving his hand back up through my hair. The sensation was amazing, addictive; I felt like I could do this forever.

Sadly, we couldn't do it forever, so we broke apart, both of us giggling stupidly. After a brief pause to catch our breath, Clay said, "Well, we should go get breakfast. I'm gonna change."

"Okay," I agreed. "Do you want me to get out?"

He shrugged. "I mean, not really. I'm just putting on my clothes from yesterday - it's not like I have to be fully naked."

"Alright." Even with this response, I made a point of staring out the window as I heard rummaging from behind me.

"Am I too hot for you?" he asked teasingly, causing me to blush.

"Wh- no!" I retorted defensively, earning a laugh out of Clay. 

Still chuckling, he said, "Well, I'm done. Let's go downstairs."

I followed him out of my room and down the stairs. The kitchen seemed to be quiet, but a small meow startled me. Clay started wheezing again, giving my cat some scritches behind the ears. "Hey, buddy," he said, picking the feline up and gently holding him in his arms.

I shook my head. "I swear, he likes you more than me."

"Seems like it," he chuckled, softly petting my cat's head.

"Anyway, what do you want for breakfast? I can probably make something."

"I'll be good," he declined.

I looked back at him. "You sure? I mean, I don't mind, and I have the time."

"If you insist, then... I want toast," Clay sighed, smiling weakly.

Clay gently placed my cat back on the ground while I pulled out a bag of bread and took a few slices from the loaf, placing them in the toaster. I pushed down the handle before resealing the bag and putting it back. While the toast was cooking, I grabbed everything else that we needed: some plates, butter, and a knife. Once that was all on the table, the toast popped up, so I placed it on the plates before sliding them to Clay's and my seats.

We started digging in happily, having a little bit of small talk. Clay finished up his toast before I did, standing up to wash the plate.

"Oh, you don't need to do that," I said quickly. "I'll get it."

He shook his head. "Nah, I insist."

Clearly, I had lost the battle of politeness, so I let him take my dish too. He washed them and put them away carefully, wiping his hands on his shirt. I checked the time, which was about fifteen minutes before I usually left for school.

As I crouched down to pack my bag, Clay crouched down next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

"Is this okay?" he asked softly.

"Yeah," I responded, leaning into his arm happily and nuzzling onto his shoulder. We switched the positions our legs were in so we were now sitting on the floor instead of crouching.

Clay leaned his head on top of mine and hummed. After a couple of minutes, he said, "I'm gonna miss you."

I reached my hand out toward his. "I'm gonna miss you too."

He sighed sadly. "I just wish we didn't have to wait... I mean, next Monday would be the latest, but that's still almost a week..."

"Clay..."

"But I'll call you and stuff. I'll find a way," he said, squeezing my hand.

"I'm not really worth taking that risk... It's probably better if you just wait-"

Clay interrupted me. "You're worth everything to me, George."

I wrapped both my arms around his chest, giving him a tight hug. "Thanks," I mumbled, meekly.

"It's true," he said, patting my back. "But... you gotta go to school now."

"What about you?" I asked.

He thought for a moment. "I'll walk with you. Um... If you're comfortable with that, anyway."

"That works." I untangled myself from Clay's arms and picked up my bag. After checking my pockets for my phone and house keys, I held the door open for Clay and followed him outside, locking the door.

As we walked down the sidewalk, I felt Clay's hand rub against mine, reaching out a finger to wrap around one of mine. He gave me a look that seemed like it meant _Is this okay?_

I nodded and returned the handholding, grabbing his hand and entwining our fingers together. I felt comfortable like this, especially since Clay was smiling sincerely, meaning he was comfortable too. Together, we continued the walk to our school, hand in hand.

Once we approached the building, I pulled my hand away. There were a lot of people around, and I didn't want to expose us to everyone yet. Clay took the hint and slid his hand into his pocket, biting his lip.

"One more thing. Um... thanks."

I looked at him, puzzled. "For what?"

"Last night. I've never been able to tell anyone about... that. And you also put up with my crying..." he said, looking a little ashamed.

I shifted my feet awkwardly. "Oh, um... Don't feel bad about it. I'm happy I could be there for you."

"I promise, I'll make it up to you someday," he mentioned quickly, blushing.

I blushed too. "You don't need to do that."

We stared at each other for a second. He smiled awkwardly before he heaved a downtrodden sigh.

"Well... talk to you later, I guess."

I was worried I was going to tear up, but I took a deep breath to calm myself down. "Yeah. Um... bye." I watched as Clay unceremoniously turned around and took a different crosswalk than the one I took.

Now I just had to get through this week to see him again.

As it turns out, this week was going to be a lot tougher than I had anticipated. Being separated from Clay at school was all the more painful now that we were dating. Even just sitting through homeroom period knowing I'd have to be apart from him was making me be more reserved than usual.

Clearly, my glumness showed, because Mrs. Blaire checked in with me after homeroom.

"You alright, George? You seem down today," she said, with an expression of worry on her face.

I looked at her, startled. "Um... I guess I am."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I looked at my feet and muttered, "Not really."

"Alright," she sighed. "My lunch period is open today, so feel free to stop by if you do."

"Okay," I said nervously, shuffling out of the classroom. To my surprise, though, Bad was waiting outside for me.

"Hi!" he greeted energetically, scaring me.

"Hi." I didn't really want to talk about it, not even to Bad.

We started walking with our bags in tow. "Is everything alright? You seemed sad."

"That's what Mrs. Blaire was asking me about," I said. "If I'm being honest, I'm not feeling great, but..."

"Do you wanna talk about it?" he asked, trying to make eye contact; however, I was firmly looking at the ground in front of me.

I shook my head. "No. It's kinda stupid anyway."

"I'm sure it's not, you muffin," he said, wholesomely.

I smiled a little internally. "Well, maybe at lunch. But we have Math first, so... see you after."

He nodded and turned onto the hallway with his Math classroom, while I continued forward to mine. The rest of the day proceeded as normal until Science, where Mrs. O'Perra was throwing shade at me. Now that Nick had proposed the idea that she didn't like me because I was gay, it definitely added up.

We were doing a lab project today which separated people into groups of three. Once we had finished reading the instructions, Mrs. O'Perra started letting us separate.

"We'll be splitting into groups of three now. I'll let you all choose, so go on and get into your preferred groups," she instructed, her ugly acrylics tapping the table loudly.

I looked around, panicking. Everyone was separating into their groups from the trip. However, since neither Clay nor Nick was present, I was left alone. The assignment definitely couldn't be done with one person, so I was panicking.

"Psst, George," Alex whispered from the table behind me. "Work with us."

"Absolutely not!" Mrs. O'Perra screeched. "This is a three-person project."

Bad protested. "But I don't think it's possible with one person-"

"Well, he'll just have to figure it out," she said nastily.

Bad cleared his throat. As politely as possible, he said, "I don't think he can. The rules work better with four people than one."

Mrs. O'Perra, on the other hand, was being as rude as ever. "The rules say three."

"Well, that's more than one," Bad said, somehow remaining respectful even though the sentence would have come with an eye roll if I had said it.

"We would have three if Clay and Nick were here."

"But they're not here," Bad reasoned. 

Mrs. O'Perra raised her eyebrows as if Bad were being the stupid one in this interaction. "So George will work by himself."

At this point, everyone's eyes were following whoever was speaking at the moment, going back and forth like a tennis match.

"That's unfair."

"It's perfectly fair."

"It's less fair than having four. Can't you just let him work with us?"

"No."

"But it's-"

"That's detention, Darryl. You shouldn't talk back to your teachers." She ripped out a small slip from her desk and hastily scribbled down some rubbish before handing it to Bad. 

I winced sympathetically at Bad, who looked close to tears. Or maybe he was about to flip the muffin out on Mrs. O'Perra. However, it turned out to be neither of these as he silently controlled himself and started the assignment. I tried my best too, but I couldn't even get it set up by the time we had to take everything down. Mrs. O'Perra smirked triumphantly while her students glared at her as we left the class.

I caught up to Bad, who was lagging behind Zak and Alex. He looked downtrodden. "Is everything good?" I asked, concerned.

"I'm fine. Just annoyed."

"Thanks for standing up for me like that. She's just a bitch."

"She _is_ a fucking b- I mean, fricking muffin. Oops."

I giggled. "You don't have to be wholesome all the time, Bad."

"But I wanna! Actually, that reminds me. Are you feeling better?"

"Oh, um... a little."

"Do you still want to talk about it?"

"I mean..." I trailed off, thoughtfully. I honestly didn't mind telling Bad, and plus, he had helped me with this issue on the bus. "As long as it's just you."

"Okay. There's always a few empty tables, and Zak and Alex are eating out today anyway, so it's all good."

I was a little shocked. "That works surprisingly well. Let's go."

We grabbed our lunches from our classroom before heading to the cafeteria, snagging a table off to the corner where we knew nobody would sit.

As I pulled out my sloppily-made sandwich, I said, "So basically... well, there's a lot."

Bad smiled wholesomely. "Well, we have the whole lunch period."

I nodded slowly. "I suppose. The main part is... um... Clay and I are kinda a thing now."

"Congratulations! I'm so proud of you."

I shrugged nervously. "I mean... he told me first. I just reciprocated."

"Well, it's still wonderful. When?"

"Last night," I admitted.

"Then why are you sad?"

"'Cause I can't see him for another week now," I sighed.

He frowned. "Aw, that sucks. Have you talked to him about it?"

"Yeah. When he walked with me to school today." After a moment, I added, "We... um... held hands."

He gasped giddily. "That's adorable!"

"It was pretty great," I agreed.

"I'm glad it finally happened. You guys are just too perfect for each other."

I giggled. "Yeah. Thanks."

"No problem." We started eating our lunch that we had neglected during our conversation. Once we had finished, we threw away our trash and sat back down at the table, chatting a little bit more. However, we soon had to go for English and we took our seats in Mrs. Blaire's classroom on the opposite sides of the room.

Before everyone finished filing in, Mrs. Blaire asked Bad up and talked to him. I saw Bad pull out his detention slip and Mrs. Blaire looked at it with a confused face.

"Hey, George, can you come up here?" she asked. I'm far from the teacher's pet, so I was a little surprised she was enlisting my help, but I came up anyway. "Is this what happened?"

She held out the note, which, to my horror, read, _Complete disrespect to teacher and arguing with other students._

"What? No. Bad was actually really respectful the whole time."

She nodded. "That's what I thought. He just politely asked her to let you work with his group and argued why?"

"Yeah, pretty much. There wasn't any arguing with students though," I agreed.

"Alright. Bad, I'll talk to more people and see if your detention is on hold while I try to contest it. George, thank you for your input. You can both go sit down again."

I looked at Bad, shrugged, and returned to my desk. He looked to be in a considerably better mood and was smiling normally again.

This continued for the entirety of English, where we were discussing the trip and the writing assignment that came with it. I wasn't looking forward to it, but I definitely had a lot to write about, so it wasn't going to be too difficult either.

When I got home, my dad was having his late lunch with his laptop next to him. He waved to me and smiled.

"Hey, George," he greeted. "How was school?"

I dumped my bag on the ground in its usual spot. "Good."

"Did you see Clay off?"

"Yeah. We walked to school together and he went toward his house." 

"Great. How is he?"

"He's good."

"Did you talk to him any?"

"Yeah."

"Are you going to miss him?"

"Well, yeah... b-but, like, just as a friend-"

My dad chuckled. "It's okay. I - what's that word again? - Oh yeah, I _ship_ it."

I blushed. "What- Dad!"

He continued laughing. "Last night, your mother was so giddy about it. I haven't seen her that excited in a while."

"Oh. Um..." I stuttered, not really knowing how to respond. After a brief moment, my dad looked back at his laptop and sighed.

He smiled slightly. "Well, I have some work to get back to, so I won't fluster you anymore. Change the cat's litter for me."

"Okay." I did as instructed and changed the litter, my cat meowing nearby. I pet his back softly before heading up to my room and flopping onto my bed. I stared at my phone and thought about texting Clay. As much as I wanted to, I really shouldn't.

However, just as I made my mind up that I wasn't going to, I got a text from him.

 **Clay:** hi george  
 **Clay:** i dont have much time so um  
 **Clay:** hope youre doing okay  
 **Clay:** love you ❤️  
 **Clay:** sorry that sounds kinda weird  
 **Clay:** not used to this kinda stuff  
 **George:** its fine  
 **George:** how are you doing  
 **Clay:** not the best  
 **Clay:** my mom is pissed that i ran out  
 **Clay:** shit shes back  
 **Clay:** bye ily  
 **George:** i love you too

I stared at my phone. The encounter was short, and I barely got to talk to him. The heart made me feel more at ease with these feelings, as if Clay himself was giving me a little hug from the phone. This gave me an idea.

I tapped the contact at the top of the screen and appended a little heart to Clay's contact name. Now, when I was texting him, the top of the screen would read "Clay 💖". It wasn't a huge change, but I liked it.

I clicked my phone off and relaxed into my bed, gazing at the ceiling. Part of me wanted to just fall asleep, but my hyperactive thoughts were preventing me from getting anywhere near comfortable to sleep. Deciding I had nothing better to do, I trudged over to my PC and turned it on, planning to watch YouTube or something.

Just as I opened my homepage, though, my phone went off. I eagerly checked it, stupidly assuming it was Clay, but it was just Bad telling me that he was free from detention. I smiled a little before turning my phone back off and sighing. I was probably being too clingy to assume it was Clay.

Dinner soon rolled around when my mom came home. Like my dad, she was deeply interested in Clay and I relationship. For Clay's sake, I was hesitant with the details and only told them the fact that we were dating. They seemed to respect that and let me go right after dinner was over.

Wednesday was a little better than Tuesday school-wise. Science wasn't as miserable and the day overall felt faster. When the final bell rang, I was ready to go home, but Bad caught up to me as I was leaving.

"Hey, I was thinking - you play Minecraft, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Do you want to start a survival world with the six of us? You know, like, you, me, Zak, Alex, Clay, and Nick?" he proposed.

I nodded again. "Sounds good. Although, I dunno when Clay's gonna be able to play."

He frowned slightly. "True... well, he can just join later, I guess. I'll let you know on Discord when I've got the server running."

"Okay," I said. And with that, Bad dashed off towards his car. 

Smiling, I made my way back to my house and promptly turned on my PC so that I could be ready for Bad's proposed SMP when it was ready. In the meantime, I browsed social media, liking or upvoting miscellaneous posts. Soon, the SMP was ready, and Bad invited me on. At the moment, Zak, Alex, and Nick were also there, meaning the only one we were missing was Clay. I hopped on the call and started chatting with everyone else.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," Zak responded.

"Hey. Um... Have you heard from Clay at all?" Nick asked, sounding genuinely concerned for once. 

I hesitated, considering how I should cover for us. "A little."

Bad feigned worry, noticing that I didn't care to explain that Clay and I were dating. "Is he okay?"

"I can't say for sure, but..." I trailed off, still thinking about what to say. "I think he's managing."

Nick sounded relieved. "That's good."

"Wait, so who's who?" Alex chimed in, drawing our attention back to Minecraft. Judging by the person who was looking around, he must have been the one with a yellow, white, black, and purple sweater.

"I'm Sapnap," Nick said, jumping and crouching.

"So George is GeorgeNotFound?" Zak asked.

I clicked my tongue. "Duh."

Zak continued. "Okay. I'm Skeppy." I looked at the bright blue character with a derp face.

I thought for a moment. "So that leaves Bad as BadBoyHalo." I looked at the player named BadBoyHalo, whose skin had a dark assassin vibe to it. "Dude, your skin does not match your personality at all."

"What a rude muffin! I'm going to get you for that!" he started punching me and I ran away. This seemed to be the cue to start playing around with the world, so everyone else started mining wood and getting materials. I was still being chased by Bad, though, so I had to deal with that first.

"Bad, please!" I begged as he punched me away from a tree. "It was just a joke- STOP!"

"No," he said, smugly.

As I continued running, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. A ravine. "Fine," I said, running straight towards it. I remember a time when Clay had done this to me in a little game we made up where one of us would have to track the other down and kill him. We both won about an equal amount of times, but I was only ever the runner twice, so it was less impressive. But regardless, it was fun.

I turned around a tree that was next to the ravine, and right as Bad turned to continue the chase, I punched him a bunch. My plan that I had stolen from Clay worked, as I heard a quiet scream from Bad and a chat message appeared.

_BadBoyHalo hit the ground too hard whilst trying to escape GeorgeNotFound_

"Yes!" I said victoriously. After taking a moment to appreciate my kill, I started gathering wood and killing animals to restore the hunger I lost during the chase.

We played for about three hours, and by that time, I had a decent base going with full iron. By then, though, some of us were having to go for dinner, so we decided to call it a day and log off. The second I disconnected the call, my phone started ringing, specifically for FaceTime.

I was a little confused. I rarely got called, and if it was a family member, they'd probably call one of my parents. I went over to pick it up and my heart leaped.

It was from Clay.

I accepted the call instantly and Clay's low-resolution face filled the screen. I could tell he was smiling, but he was lagging, so his words came out choppy.

"George! Oh my God, hi!" He sounded a little hushed, but there were also insect noises from his side. Was he outside?

"Clay!" I said, a little too loudly. Quieting down, I sighed, "I miss you."

"I miss you too. I wanted to call you really quickly since I had the chance. Sorry if my connection's wonky, by the way. I'm outside."

"Just to call me?" I asked, confused.

"Um... not exactly. But don't worry."

"I _am_ worried, Clay. Are you alright? You look..." For a brief moment, the picture resolution fixed itself and I got to see his face. He looked exhausted.

"Tired. You look really tired."

He smiled weakly. "I'm fine. Promise."

"You can tell me anything, Clay. But alright."

"I don't have too much time. Bad told me about what happened at school yesterday. Did you tell him?"

"Yeah. Sorry if you weren't ready, but..."

"No, it's fine! I'm glad you told him. He's been trying to reach out to me and make sure I'm okay for your sake."

"Really?"

"Yeah. So... thanks."

"I mean, it's not much..."

"It's still a lot to me," he said. Suddenly, I heard the faint whir of a car engine and Clay looked up from his phone. "I need to go. I love you, George."

"Alright. I love you too, Clay."

The call ended. I felt myself wanting to see Clay again and I was tempted to click the call button, but I stopped myself. He would get in trouble if I called him for sure. 

I suddenly felt a jolt of anger surge through me. I was angry at the situation, the circumstances making sure Clay and I were being kept apart. I stomped to my bed, thinking about what to let out my frustration on. Soon, though, my frustration turned into tears, and I was sobbing into my pillow.

"I love you too..." I whispered again to an empty room. I guess I must have been really loud since my mom came up, still in her work clothes.

"Are you okay, George?" she said, quietly.

"No," I groaned.

"Is it about Clay?" She stepped into the room a little further, approaching my bed.

I peeled my face off of the comfort of the pillow, wiping my eyes. "Yeah, but it's probably not like what you're thinking."

She looked a little relieved but still concerned. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

She sighed. "Alright. Dinner's almost ready."

"Okay." I watched her leave through the door and close it gently.

I dried my tears and stood up shakily. Just a few more days until I can be with Clay again.

But at the rate things are going, can I even make it another day?


	16. For Better or For Worse

I was woken up by the harsh noise of my alarm clock, jolting me out of my dream. Groaning, I reached to turn it off, relishing in the sweet silence that came afterward. I rolled out of bed and got dressed haphazardly. My hair was a ruffled mess of brown that took a while to smooth out, but once it was fixed, I went down for breakfast.

I ate my breakfast and got ready for school in silence before leaving for my usual walk to school. It was slightly overcast today - it looked like we were going to have another storm some time later. 

When I got to school, I saw Nick waiting at the front desk. I was a little surpised, but I went up to him anyway.

"Oh. Hey, George," he said, grinning.

"Hey. What are you doing here?" I asked, leaning on the counter beside him.

He sighed. "Forgot to grab my work yesterday."

"Damn." I looked around at the bustling hallways. "I should probably go. See you tomorrow maybe? Probably would be just us two, but..."

He nodded. "Sure."

With that, I walked away toward my homeroom and took my usual seat for attendance. Once it was over, I left for my next class. My morning went by without any moments of interest, improved by the fact that we didn't have Science class on Thursdays. Instead, we went to P.E. and did dodgeball. The teams were decided by our P.E. teacher, who was similar to Mrs. O'Perra in her incompetence but actually a little bit psychotic. However, she chose decent teams, and Zak, Bad, and I (Alex was picked for the opposing team) helped our team win.

Sweaty, tired, and overall done from playing dodgeball, we went to have lunch. The four of us spent some time talking about Minecraft and girls. I wasn't uncomfortable when other guys talked about their interest in girls. In fact, I would crack stupid jokes like "Can't relate" or "Could never be me."

The afternoon was a different story, though. We spent a bit of the first English period working on our essays, but since it was a homework assignment, we stopped shortly after to start discussing the next book we would be reading, which would be the last one for the year.

Once the final bell rang, Mrs. Blaire addressed her homeroom class. "Remember, no school tomorrow for you all! I mean, you can come, but us teachers get planning periods instead of having you, so we'd rather you didn't."

Everyone laughed for a bit. I started to get ready to go, but Mrs. Blaire asked me to stay behind for a second. I obliged and watched everyone else leave through the door as she started addressing me.

"I just wanted to say congratulations."

I laughed nervously. "Uh, what?"

"Clay told me yesterday. About you two."

"Oh. Yeah."

"If I'm being honest, he'd been telling me the same things you were. Well, not the same things exactly, but he has liked you for a while."

"Wha- why didn't you tell me?" I felt a little bit betrayed.

She scoffed good-manneredly. "I doubt you would've believed me. Plus, and this might be a little bit cliché, but I think it's better you two worked it out on your own."

"That _is_ really cliché, but... I guess it's true," I sighed.

"With that being said, though, make sure you're both taking your time," she warned. "I feel like I might have rushed you with my advice, so that needs to be said now."

I nodded. "Yeah. Um... thanks, I guess. For everything."

"No problem. As your teacher, I'm here to help."

"You do really well," I said, truthfully.

"Thank you. Now, you should get going."

"Right. See you!"

I dashed out of the door and started making my way to my house. The slightly overcast sky had become dark and looming, so I tried to get home as quickly as possible. I opened the door quickly and locked it behind me as I entered my seemingly empty house. I checked my phone and saw I had a text on my family group text from when it was on "do not disturb" when I was at school.

 **Dad:** Hi George, Mom and I are going to be running some errands together when she gets of from work early. We'll be home late but we'll in time for dinner.  
 **Mom:** We're getting you a gift! 👁️👄👁️  
 **Dad:** Don't ruin the surprise!  
 **Dad:** You'll probably like it, though.  
 **Mom:** He'd better!

I wheezed. I accidentally used the 👁️👄👁️ face with my mom once, but now she uses it unironically and it makes me laugh every time. I was a little interested in whatever the gift was, but just then, my cat nuzzled my legs and purred affectionately. I smiled and slid off my shoes gently to avoid hitting him with them, but he started playing with them. 

"Stop," I giggled, prying them away softly and placing them next to the door. He looked a little upset at me, so I grabbed one of his toys and started playing with him. He lost interest after about 5 minutes, though, and I was able to go upstairs to my room. As usual, I booted up my PC and decided to just goof off until my parents got home.

Just as I had settled on a good video to watch, though, my doorbell rang. I groaned internally, stumbling to the door and down the stairs. I assumed my parents needed help bringing stuff in or had lost their keys or something, so I moved swiftly to avoid getting yelled at.

After making sure my cat wasn't nearby, I opened the door and looked down slightly, since both my parents are shorter than me. However, what I didn't expect was a familiar green jacket and a figure that loomed many inches over me.

"Clay?"

"George!" he gasped, throwing his arms around me. He was heavy and I almost lost my balance, but I managed to readjust my footing and return the hug. I pulled back and looked up at his face, but my smile faded as I saw what he looked like. He looked grim and tired - the bags under his eyes were incredibly noticeable and he exuded an aura of exhaustion. If I didn't know better, I'd say he was drunk.

I cupped his cheek, which was far too cold. "Oh my God, are you okay?"

He shook his head. "I'll explain, just... need to sit down."

He collapsed onto the couch and I sat down next to him. He leaned onto my shoulder subconsciously and yawned.

"What happened? Why are you here?"

"It's complicated, but... I basically got kicked out."

"Clay!-"

"Don't worry, it just happened. I haven't been sleeping on the streets for 2 days."

"That's still not great."

"I guess not. Especially because I've been sleeping on the porch anyway."

"You _what_?"

"My mom got angry at me for going out on Monday and that was her punishment."

"That's- Clay, that's awful."

"I've had worse. Like right now."

"Why'd she kick you out, though?"

He looked down seriously. "Um... She took my phone, and, well..."

My heart dropped. I didn't need any more explanation - I already knew what had happened. His mom took his phone without his consent and looked through his messages, maybe even his call history. When she saw what we had been saying to each other, she must have flipped and kicked him out.

"Clay, I'm... sorry."

"Why? You didn't do anything."

"If I hadn't been so clingy, she wouldn't have seen those things..."

"It's not your fault. It's hers. If she doesn't like you and I, that's her problem."

"You're right." I placed my hand on his thigh gently, smiling. "I love you, Clay."

He grabbed my hand. "I love you too."

Suddenly, his grip loosened and his head fell limp on my shoulder. He was asleep, albeit briefly since he immediately jolted back up.

I was a little bit concerned. "When is the last time you've slept?"

"I dunno... I'd guess Tuesday night?"

"What about Wednesday?"

"I couldn't get to sleep. It was too cold."

"Well, how long did you sleep Tuesday?"

"Maybe 3 hours?"

My heart ached for Clay. He came to my house on zero hours of sleep and now I was demanding to know everything that happened. Feeling bad, I reanalyzed my situation. My boyfriend just got kicked out of his house and hasn't slept in over 40 hours while both of my parents were out shopping and would be home late, and I'd have to explain this to them. Clay didn't have anywhere else to go, considering what else he's told me about his family.

I sighed. "You should probably get some sleep."

"Okay, Gogy," he said, yawning.

"Gogy?" I giggled.

He chuckled. "Isn't it cute?"

I shook my head sarcastically, but I really did like the pet name. "I guess. Now get to sleep."

"Fiiiine." He started sliding down the couch and I thought he was going to collapse onto the floor and pass out, but instead, he stretched out his legs toward the other end of the couch and laid his head on my lap. I blushed deeply as he rolled his head to the side and started sleeping peacefully. I was surprised at how fast he got knocked out, but I guess it made sense.

I sighed and pulled out my phone, preparing to text my parents and tell them the situation. I went through a few drafts before I settled on a final text chain.

 **George:** Um  
 **George:** Clay got kicked out of his house and hes here now  
 **George:** Hes sleeping on the couch and idrk what do to with him  
 **George:** I really want him to stay but I know you guys probably wouldnt want that so thought Id let you know and let you decide

I held my breath and pressed send. The message soon turned to read and I saw the little chat bubble indicating that my dad was typing.

 **Dad:** Oh, we know, that's why we're going shopping.  
 **Dad:** We needed some extra groceries and such.  
 **Dad:** Don't worry, we had a serious discussion about it once Clay told us. It's a thoughtful decision.  
 **George:** Wait really  
 **Dad:** Don't get too excited; it's temporary. We'll have to have a further discussion later.  
 **Mom:** The gift is for both of you! 😃  
 **Mom:** Well, sort of.  
 **Dad:** He's going to figure it out if you keep giving him hints.  
 **Mom:** Fiiine.  
 **Mom:** We're on the way anyway, so thanks for letting us know he's asleep. Can you meet us at the door in about 10 minutes?  
 **George:** Ok

I sighed loudly, somehow not waking Clay up. I was relieved beyond description for several reasons, not the least of which being that I was going to be able to live with my boyfriend for the foreseeable future.

I looked down at said boyfriend's serene figure. His mouth was slightly open and his right hand was resting on his chest while his left was dangling off the couch. I placed my hand on top of his and smiled. His legs were too long for the couch, so his feet stuck straight off of the side comically. I wanted to stay like this for a while, maybe even forever, but I had to meet my parents at the door to help them with whatever they needed help with, so I awkwardly slid his head off my lap and laid it down on the couch. Clay stayed asleep through it all. I suppose it made sense - after all, he hadn't slept in almost 48 hours. After making sure he was still asleep, I quietly grabbed a throw pillow from a chair and put it under his head. He hummed a little but didn't stir otherwise.

My cat came over and tried to leap up onto the couch, but misjudged how tall it was with Clay's body on it and failed. I winced a little, but Clay remained asleep, so it was all good. He tried again and this time manage to land on Clay's torso. He noticed that the boy was asleep and decided that it would be a great time for a nap, so he curled up and started napping. It was an adorable sight to behold.

I paced around for a little bit before my doorbell rang. When I opened it this time, it was my mom, guiding a very large box through the door. My dad was behind the box, pushing it. I had no idea what it was, but I helped them bring it through the door and lay it on a wall, which allowed me to get a good look at the box.

"Is that a bed?" I asked, shocked. The picture on the front of the box had a large graphic of a bedframe on it, and it was labelled _Queen - 60" x 80" (152.5cm x 203.5cm)._

"Technically, it's the bedframe," my dad joked. His voice was quiet as he noticed Clay was asleep.

My mom scoffed. "He knows _that._ Anyway, it's the gift I was talking about."

"Oh my God- you just decided to get this today? Just because of Clay?" I gasped.

Mom shook her head. "Not really. We've been wanting a bigger bed for your room for a while now, so we figured this was as good as time as any. When you move out, your room is going to be a guest room, so we decided it'd be best to have a bigger bed."

I was speechless. "I- Thank you. Thank you so much."

"You're very welcome. The mattress is getting delivered on Sunday, though, so we won't build it for a while."

I nodded. "Alright. Need help with anything else?"

"Yes. We have some groceries."

I went out to grab some of the groceries from the trunk and bring them in. I was still in a state of shock from both the fact that I was getting a new bed and that my parents were letting Clay stay with no hassle. Well, not at the moment, anyway. When we had finished bringing in the groceries, my mom looked at Clay and said, "Poor baby. I don't want to lay it all on him just yet, but we need to eventually. And that should probably sooner rather than later."

"Yeah. Um... sorry if he's in the way."

"Don't be," she said. "Clay's old enough to take care of himself mostly - It's not like we're taking care of a toddler. Plus, he's good-mannered and such. I'm sure we'll all be happy."

"Thank you so much, Mom. Really."

"One more thing, though. I don't mean to concern you, but there's probably a lot of legal issues with this, too." She paused for a moment. "That's why I've asked his dad about it all."

I was a little surprised. "Really? I mean..."

She shook her head. "His dad's a nice guy, unlike that witch of a mother." When I raised my eyebrows, she added, "I've been talking to him a little already. He really cares about Clay and his sister, he just doesn't seem to have enough time to connect with them."

"Oh." Now that my mom had told me that, I felt I understood Clay even more now. The reason he only ever directly mentioned his mom doing those horrible things was because his dad wasn't. Clay only ever talked about him with his mom by saying "my parents" or "my family," but he'd never say "my dad" on his own in the same context he did about his mom.

She turned back to Clay and smiled softly. "Anyway, do you think you could get him upstairs? I don't know his circumstances, but it'd be nice if he were off the couch."

I looked at him too. "I'll try." 

I approached my sleeping boyfriend and my cat lept off of his position from Clay's chest. I cupped a hand to Clay's face and said, a little loudly, "Clay, um... can you get up for a sec?"

He hummed tiredly and stretched his arms. "Whazzit?"

I thought of a reason quickly since I didn't want him to think he was being a burden. "You'll probably want to be asleep for a while, so I thought you should go upstairs."

"Mmkay, Gogy. Are you bringing me?"

I blushed, looking at my smirking parents. "Sure. C'mon."

He put his arm around my shoulders leaned on me slightly. I was reminded of the day where I twisted my ankle and he did the same for me. Chuckling a little, I continued to guide Clay upstairs. He still seemed out of it, so we went slowly up the stairway.

Once I got Clay into my room, he kicked his shoes off and I nudged them near the door. I awkwardly helped him lay down on my bed since his mattress had been put away. He closed his eyes and smiled, seeming to be clear-headed with all of his remaining energy.

"Thanks."

I tossed a blanket over him, softly patting it down around his body. "Don't mention it."

He sighed, opening his eyes again and looking shameful. "Sorry if I'm getting in the way. I... um... I didn't really know where else to go."

"Clay, it's fine," I assured him, brushing a stray hair from his face. "Get some rest."

"But..."

I placed a hand on his cheek. "We'll talk about it in the morning. But for now, you really need to get to sleep."

"I guess I do." He took a deep breath. "Thanks, George."

"No problem." I stared into his eyes for a moment. He looked so perfect in the dim light from the window. Gazing at his face, I suddenly felt an urge overcome me, and it looked like Clay did too.

I leaned down somberly, mentally preparing myself for this. He leaned up a little bit too, so I stuck my hand under his head to support him. I entwined my free hand with his, holding it gently as our lips met. I swung my legs onto the bed so I was now kneeling on either side of him, making the motion less awkward on my back. Hearts pounding, our lips met, sending shivers up my spine.

When we pulled apart, I nuzzled my head between his head and shoulder, wrapping my arms around his neck. He hummed happily, returning the hug with tired arms.

I finally let go of him, smiling stupidly. "Good night, Clay."

He was beaming too. "Night, Gogy."

He shut his eyes again and rolled his head over, his breathing slowing into a calm rhythm. I gently climbed off of him and walked out of the door, closing it softly. I got downstairs to see my parents talking seriously with one another. They beckoned me over, so I sat down at the table with them.

My dad sighed. "We need to have a talk about Clay. I know we told you he can probably stay, but if I'm being honest, I don't know. The only parent we can safely contact is his father, and we're still waiting to hear back from him. The problem is, we might need his mother's consent too."

"About that. Um... we can-"

"No, it's okay," my dad said, cutting me off. "We just don't want the police showing up at our door because of this, y'know?"

"I get it."

He continued. "Look, all we know is that he got kicked out because his mom found out about you guys. We don't plan on keeping him for more than a couple of days if we don't get a response soon."

"Can't we-" I started, but my mom cut me off as her phone buzzed.

"Wait." She pulled out her phone, the screen of which had a message. "That's his dad. Let's read this."

I was expecting to have to wait patiently for them to finish reading, but my mom started reading it out loud.

"'Thanks for contacting me, Deborah. I'm glad to hear that Clay is safe. His mother is incredibly angry, but I haven't told her anything about you. If it's not too much hassle, would you keep Clay for a while, at least until I can deal with his mother? I would worry if he was here. Of course, I completely understand if you don't want to and would be happy to have him back. Thank you again for reaching out to me.'"

My mouth was agape. I was expecting the response to be furious or even blameful, but even his dad was agreeing that he should be here.

My mom beamed at my stupified silence. "Well, glad that's sorted. Let me text him back."

"Wait, so... is he staying?" I asked, still in shock.

My dad seemed pleasantly surprised. "Looks like it."

Mom looked up from her phone. "I told him that we would be happy to have Clay for as long as he needed and that George would be ecstatic."

"Is this for real?" I asked, practically bouncing out of my seat.

My dad chuckled. "Calm down, there. There will be rules."

I nodded energetically. "Of course, but I'm just... really fucking excited."

"Language," my parents warned simultaneously.

"Sorry," I said quickly.

After a moment, my dad continued speaking. "Regardless, we'll figure those out by tomorrow. For now, we should have dinner. Do you think Clay would want anything?"

I shook my head. "Probably not. He told me he hasn't slept in two days."

"What? Why?" he asked, concerned.

I hesitated for a moment. "He, um... He was forced to sleep outside."

My mom looked mortified. "That's awful, poor thing. Let's let him sleep."

"Yeah," I agreed.

I started to help them make dinner, setting the table, and the like. When it was done, we ate in subdued silence. My mind wandered to my parents. They didn't seem to have any reservations about keeping Clay now that his dad had messaged us, which surprised me. They'd always said that our household was full as is and we couldn't really have another person, but now that Clay was here, they were perfectly fine with sheltering him.

After being extra with the dishes to show my gratitude, I went upstairs to check on Clay. As expected, he was still asleep. I decided to take a shower and head back downstairs after.

As I turned on the water to a reasonably high temperature and stepped in, I reflected on today's events. I primarily thought about Clay and what he must be feeling. His own mother hates him because of who he is, and now he probably thinks that he's causing trouble for my family by staying here. It made my heart hurt. I just wanted to cuddle with him and let him know it would be alright, but I couldn't. Not yet.

I cleaned myself quickly and stepped out of the shower, changing into my pajamas and going back to my room to dump my old clothes off. I threw them next to a pair of pants and a jacket, but then I did a double-take. I didn't have any clothes that big.

After thinking for a moment, the realization hit me. Those must have been Clay's clothes. He probably couldn't sleep in jeans and a jacket, so he threw them off. I blushed at the thought of Clay sleeping in my bed in just underwear and a t-shirt, but I quickly shook it off and went downstairs.

I saw that my parents had moved to their nightly spot on the couch, watching TV. My mom smiled at me and held out her phone, saying, "His dad texted back while you were upstairs."

I read the text to myself. _I'm happy that they can stay together. I know Clay didn't leave with anything when he did go, so I'm wondering if I could possibly drop off a sort of care package Saturday morning at 7:30? It would honestly just be some clothes and possibly his laptop, but I don't want you all to go out and buy him anything like that. I also want to write him a note that I'd drop off with everything else because, if I'm being honest, I'm distant with him and his sister. A note won't be the thing that fixes that, but it's a start._

After that huge chunk of words was a smaller one that said, _By the way, we should meet up for coffee sometime. I'd love to get to know you both better._

My mom's response was short and polite. _Sounds great! My husband will be here to pick anything up on Saturday. Coffee sounds like a wonderful idea, but I work at wacky times and probably can't until next Wednesday, if that's okay. Clay is sleeping right now, but I'll let him know in the morning. Cheers._

My mom noticed my "finished reading" expression and spoke up again. "I also just called him. He said that his work offered him a new position with less travel and that's why he's able to focus more on his family. Oooh, and I don't mean to gossip, but apparently they're-"

I giggled. "You probably shouldn't say it."

"I suppose you're right," she agreed. My mom and I had a thing where we would always correct each other for gossiping since we both did it a lot. It wasn't rude in any way; just an inside joke. "Anyway, how's Clay doing? Still asleep?"

"Yeah," I responded.

"Alright. You going to go to bed anytime soon?"

I shrugged. "I guess. Don't really want to wake him up."

"Alright. Kiss him good night for me."

 _I already did that._ "Mom!"

"Just kidding." Her smile turned into a serious face, though. "Seriously, though, make sure you're going at the right pace. Don't rush things."

I thought about it for a moment. "We are. I promise."

"Good. Sleep well, George!" she said.

"'Night, George," my dad echoed.

Smiling, I retreated upstairs to my room. I opened and shut the door quietly and made my way toward my occupied bed, bending down to grab the mattress underneath. Then I remembered that I was washing the sheets, and at the moment the mattress was stripped. Cursing myself, I went to my closet and started rummaging around for my other set of sheets.

I guess I wasn't cautious with my volume, since Clay startled me by saying, "Hey, George."

I dropped the bundle of sheets. "Oh shit- Hi, Clay."

"Sorry, did I scare you?" His voice was a little hoarse.

I nodded. "A little. Sorry I woke you up."

He cleared his throat. "It's fine. Are you getting ready for bed?"

"Yeah. Just forgot to get sheets for the mattress." I nodded at the naked mattress on the floor.

He looked at it too. "Oh, okay."

I bent down to pick up my sheets, but as I was coming back up, Clay spoke up again.

"Um... can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Is it okay if... could you, um... canyousleepwithme?" He said the last part at once and I couldn't understand it.

"What was that?" I asked. "Sorry, you spoke kinda fast."

He took a shaky breath. "Can you... um... sleep with me?"

I just stared at him. _He_ was asking? That's something I'd ask.

He muttered a little more. "If you're comfortable, anyway. I mean, I'm not wearing pants-"

"Oh. Um, sure. It's fine," I assured him.

He looked relieved. "Really?"

"Yeah. Let me just put these all away." I held up the sheets I had dropped and shoved them back in my closet before approaching my bed.

Before climbing into bed, I gave Clay one last questioning look. "Sure you're okay with this?"

"Yeah. Um... I guess it's a bit clingy, but... I feel better when we're close."

"Me too." I pulled up the blanket and clambered into bed beside Clay, snuggling against his body. Unlike my new bed, my current bed was only twin size and barely had enough space for me, let alone Clay, so we had to be pushed up tightly against each other. I honestly didn't mind.

"This okay?" he said, sliding an arm around my shoulders. His other arm was under my head since I couldn't reach the pillow in the position we were in.

"Yeah." I put my arm under his and returned the hug. Due to the height difference, I was pressed comfortably into Clay's well-defined chest. It was a comfortable position.

"Thanks, George. Again."

"I love this too, you know."

"No, just... for everything. I just showed up and you guys are dealing with me..."

"You're not causing any trouble. There's a lot we need to explain in the morning, but... that's it, really."

He sounded almost tearful. "Thanks..."

"Mhm," I mumbled into his chest, nodding off.

He put a hand through my hair. "Good night, Gogy."

"'Night, babe."


	17. Forever

I woke up, remembering where I was and who was with me in bed. I smiled and hummed, nuzzling into Clay's arm. I had rolled over in the night so that Clay was now spooning me, with his arm wrapped under mine. The sky was still overcast, a light grey muffling the sun's rays. I didn't know what time it was, but I didn't want to find out. I just wanted to stay nestled up in bed with Clay all day.

My mind was a bit foggy. _What day is it?_ I thought, reaching my hand toward Clay's hand. _Is it Friday?_

I groaned, remembering I had to go to school. Didn't they realize I had a boyfriend to spend time with? Reluctantly, I wriggled out of Clay's grasp. He grumbled sadly as I started tossing off my pajamas.

"Where are you going, Georgie?"

"School," I answered, kicking off my pajama pants.

"Why?" He sounded confused.

I giggled. "What do you mean, why? It's Friday."

"I know," he said. "Don't you have the day off?"

My brain paused for a good couple of moments while I processed what Clay said. Finally, it clicked with me.

"Oh."

"Mhm. Can you... um... come back?"

"Yeah. Let me just get my pajamas back on." I was in my underwear at the moment since I was in the middle of changing.

"Oh, um... I don't really mind." My cheeks immediately flushed bright red. "B-But it's up to you."

"U-Um... are you sure?" I stuttered.

"Only if you are."

"Yeah, I'm just... a little nervous." I snuggled back into bed with Clay, blushing furiously. Humming, he wrapped his arms around my back comfortingly. I immediately calmed down and relaxed into his grasp. I wasn't planning to fall asleep again, but I didn't ever want to let go, either.

He pushed his face into my hair softly. "Better?"

I pawed at his bare abdomen. "Yeah. Thanks."

We lay in silence for a while, holding onto each other tightly. His heartbeat lulled me slightly but didn't send me to sleep. Soon, our combined body heat was getting a little warm, and I could tell Clay's underarms were getting sweaty.

"Can we toss of this blanket a little?" I asked.

"Sure." He pulled the blanket down to our waists, cooling off our upper bodies. I slid my body up more so I was now almost eye level with Clay.

"Kiss?" I asked.

He smiled. "Yeah."

I leaned in only a little since there was barely an inch between us anyway. Neither of us moved our hands to the other's face, instead leaving them intertwined on our waists. Just as we were about to make contact, my door suddenly opened.

"Morning, lovebirds."

"M-Mom!" I said, snapping up. Clay sat up too, looking embarrassed. "You can't just-"

She raised her eyebrows. "I did knock. You just weren't answering."

"Oh..."

"Well, I don't mind. Have fun last night?"

I was now confused on top of being flustered. "Wh-What?"

She nodded at the blanket at our waists. I didn't get what she meant at first, but then I thought about what whe walked in on. My heart dropped.

"I-It's... we didn't... It's not like that!" I stammered, my face burning red.

My mom started laughing heartily. "I was just kidding." 

Suddenly, Clay made a strange snorting noise. We both looked at him in concern, but he was just wheezing so hard that he was silent until now. We gave him a moment and his wheezing eventually turned to hacking and coughing. He took a deep breath and promptly said, "Sorry."

My mom smiled. "Anyway, do you guys want some breakfast? I was thinking of going to the bakery."

I looked at Clay, who was grinning. "Oh, um... Sure. What's the special event?"

"Nothing in particular... maybe it can be Clay's welcoming party."

"O-Oh, you don't need to do that," Clay said quickly.

"Nonsense." My mom smiled warmly. "You're part of our family now."

Clay looked a little bashful, but he grinned genuinely as my mom asked again, "So, bakery?"

"Sounds good," I said, hooking an arm around Clay's neck affectionately. Clay nodded sheepishly and leaned into my arm. After she left, Clay sighed to me.

"I like this. Y'know, just... being together and being happy."

I turned my body so I was now facing him and cupped his chin in my palm. "I like this too."

He leaned into my chest and fit his arms around my back snugly. I placed a hand on his head gently. We stayed still in that position for several minutes before Clay pulled back a little bit.

He looked up at me. "Do you wanna go downstairs?"

"Okay." We both climbed out of bed with some difficulty and put our clothes on. I caught myself staring at Clay's body more than once, but I snapped out of it quickly and focused on getting my own clothes on.

We got downstairs and my cat immediately ran up to Clay and purred. Clay smiled and pet him a little bit before turning back to me.

"Also, I... um... I know we're gonna talk about it soon, but... I really wanna stay here. I don't want to put too much hassle on you guys, but..."

"Don't worry about it. They told me you can stay for at least a while." I left out the part about his dad, deciding my mother would be better at breaking that news to him.

"Really?"

"Yeah. That's a bed, by the way. My parents wanted to get me one for a while, but now that you're here, I guess they decided to buy it." I pointed at the large box leaning on the living room wall.

"Damn. What an upgrade."

I nodded and looked around, thinking about what to do. At first, I looked at the TV, but I wasn't a huge TV or Netflix person, so my attention turned to the kitchen.

"Do you want something to drink?" I said, grabbing some glasses and going to the fridge.

"Sure. What do you have?"

I looked through the various chilled shelves. "Um... milk, orange juice, chocolate milk, Coke... oh, and, uh, water, obviously."

"Chocolate milk? I haven't had that stuff in a long time."

"Really? I drink it, like, every day."

"That can't be healthy."

"Probably not, but who cares? Anyway, do you want chocolate milk or what?"

"I'll have chocolate milk."

I poured the chocolate milk into the two glasses and put the jug away, passing Clay a glass and keeping one for myself. We both downed our cups quikcly, both of us being parched. Finally, we set our glasses down and Clay insisted on cleaning them. As he was drying the second one, my mom came through the door with a bag in hand.

"Oh, you're downstairs."

"Yep. Hi, Mom."

"Hi George." She turned to Clay. "Did you get enough sleep, honey?"

"I think so. I feel pretty good right now." He put away the second glass and walked over to my mom and I.

She set down the bakery bag. "That's good. I got some croissants and sandwiches for breakfast, and then a small treat for later."

"What is it?" I asked, curious.

"It's a surprise."

"Is it another bed?" I joked.

She scoffed good-naturedly as she pulled out some miscellaneous pastries and breakfast sandwiches on toasted English muffins. I grabbed some plates for everyone, going back to get an extra when I heard my dad coming downstairs. We all picked out some breakfast food; I went with a croissant, while Clay grabbed an egg, sausage, and cheese sandwich.

We started eating together, talking and laughing like a family. Despite my worrying, my parents seemed to be eager to have Clay around. Clay himself was responding to them honestly and happily while eating his sandwich. Seeing him smile made my heart feel fuzzy because of the horror he's been going through the last few days.

When we finished eating, Clay got up to start taking the dishes, but my mom politely asked him to sit down. Looking a little confused, he obliged.

My mom sighed. "I'm not sure if George has told you anything, but you're staying here for the time being."

"George told me. Thank you so much."

"It's no problem. Your dad and I worked it all out pretty quickly."

Clay's face went pale. "What?"

"Don't worry, it's just him," my mom assured, but this didn't seem to calm him much.

"U-Um..." he stuttered. "Even then, I still don't know if that's really a good idea..."

"It's not like what you might think. He's worried that you might not be safe at home."

"Really?"

"Yes. He's dropping some stuff off tomorrow along with a note for you."

Clay looked a little stunned. "Oh."

My mom sighed again. "Look, I'm not going to make you talk to him if you don't want to. After all, you're not technically my kid and I can't really force you to do anything. But you really should consider whatever he writes."

After a brief moment, Clay spoke firmly. "I will."

"Thank you. Well, that's all I had to say. Go do whatever you do in George's room."

"Okay." I grabbed Clay's hand and led him upstairs, where we sat down on my bed. My boyfriend leaned into my shoulder and hummed contently.

"What should we do?" I asked, cradling his head in the crook of my elbow.

"I dunno. You got any plans?"

"I don't think so- wait, I think I was gonna see Nick today."

"That's cool. Still want to do that? I mean, we could use it as an opportunity to tell him."

"Yeah. Let's figure out where."

I pulled out my phone and texted Nick.

 **George:** do u still wanna meet up  
 **Nick:** ok where  
 **George:** damn i thought you were asleep still  
 **Nick:** nah the trip got my sleep schedule fucked up  
 **George:** understandable  
 **George:** anyway i dont have any ideas but  
 **George:** ig mall?  
 **Nick:** what do you need to get  
 **George:** nothing really but might check out some clothes or smth idk  
 **George:** actually theres the arcade  
 **George:** wait or is that closed during the school day  
 **Nick:** i think it is for minors  
 **George:** shit  
 **George:** we win a day off and cant even do anything with it  
 **Nick:** rly tho  
 **Nick:** well ill meet you in front of the macys  
 **Nick:** second floor  
 **Nick:** mby 12?

I checked the time at the top of my screen. It was currently 11:02 AM, so we had about an hour.

 **George:** okay  
 **George:** also one more thing   
**George:** clays coming with me  
 **Nick:** wasnt he grounded  
 **George:** its complicated  
 **George:** well tell u there  
 **Nick:** wait is he at your house  
 **George:** yes  
 **George:** since yesterday  
 **Nick:** i-  
 **Nick:** and u didnt invite me ☹️  
 **George:** like i said, its complicated  
 **George:** well  
 **George:** see u then  
 **Nick:** k cya

Rolling my eyes, I shut off my phone. Clay was giggling.

"That was awkward."

"Shush," I said, also giggling. He laughed harder as pushed him onto the bed playfully.

"Hey!" he protested, tugging on my shirt. I leaned down toward him and nestled my head into his neck, humming. I played with his hair a little bit, running a hand through the soft locks. He smiled and moved his arm upward under my head, indicating he wanted me to lean back. I obliged and gazed at his face from a few inches away. God, he looked perfect.

Clay grinned bashfully. "So... what do you wanna do until then?"

"Cuddle."

"Me too." He sat up against the back of my bed, patting the mattress next to him.

I had a better idea, though. I rolled over and sat down between his legs, leaning into his chest as support. He slithered an arm under mine and held onto my torso gently. I almost felt like I could fall asleep again.

"You're amazing," he whispered, softly.

I closed my eyes and hummed. "You're amazing too," I echoed, placing a hand on his.

He chuckled warmly. "Thanks."

We sat together for a while, occasionally shifting positions so we would be more comfortable. I didn't know how much time passed until Clay pulled out his phone and sighed sadly.

"We should probably get going soon."

"What time is it?" I yawned, stretching my arms.

"A little past 11:40."

I was a little surprised. "We spent all that time cuddling?"

"Looks like it," he chuckled, ruffling my hair a little.

I leaned forward to let Clay get out from under me before climbing off of the bed myself. We both went downstairs to start getting ready for the walk.

Before I slid my shoes on, I asked my mom, "Can we go over to the mall to meet up with Nick?"

She looked a little confused but said, "Okay. Clay, are you sure you're up for it?"

"I think I got enough sleep," he said.

My mom nodded. "Good. Well, be safe on the road. And come back by 4:30."

"Got it," I said, grabbing my wallet from the counter. It wasn't a complete wallet by any means, but it was the best place to keep a debit card.

As I pocketed and walked out the door alongside Clay, I started on my route. Clay seemed a little lost at first, but he caught up to me quickly. About halfway there, he sighed shakily.

"George, can I tell you something?"

"Go for it," I said, nodding.

He took a deep breath. "I'm... honestly kinda nervous."

"Oh. Clay..."

"But I feel like since you're able to do it, I should be able to too." He sounded a little ashamed of himself.

"It's not like that," I assured him, brushing my hand against his. "Being nervous is normal. Trust me, I was too."

He looked stressed. "Like, I know he'll be fine with it, but I'm just... I'm worried I can't do it."

"It's okay. Coming out is hard; If you're not comfortable, you don't have to tell him anything. Rushing it is the last thing I'd want you to do."

"I am comfortable, but... it's just scary, y'know?"

"I felt that way too. But it all turned out well in the end, right?"

"Y-Yeah."

We had stopped walking at this point, being pretty much in front of the mall. I was looking into Clay's eyes, making sure he wasn't pushing himself too hard.

"So you sure you're ready?"

"I am. Thanks, babe."

Together, we entered the mall, which felt less crowded than usual. It was still bustling, but there were probably fewer people since they would be at work or school.

We went to the upstairs entrance to the Macy's, where Nick was surprisingly already waiting for us. We walked over and exchanged greetings before we stood awkwardly in a little circle, unsure of where to go.

"So. What's the story?" Nick asked.

I looked around at all the people around us. "This probably isn't the best place to discuss it. Um... did you eat lunch yet?"

"Nope, not even breakfast."

"Let's go get lunch, then," I proposed. I had been to the mall enough to know relatively where everything was, but I still used the map to find where to go. There was a small café by the main entrance of the mall where we decided to go to and it actually wasn't half bad. The vibe was like that of a Starbucks, but the Starbucks was placed before security in an airport. This meant that there were only a few other people there.

I got a sandwich and drink and pulled up a chair from another table for myself since the tables only had 2 chairs each. As we laid out our food and started eating, I noticed Nick kept glancing at Clay and me, still trying to figure out what the deal was. Finally, we finished eating and Clay was ready to say it.

With one last nod from me, Clay said, "Um... there's two things. First, I'm gay. Second, George and I... are a thing, now."

"Finally. I'm happy you guys finally got that worked out." It wasn't said condescendingly; it sounded rather genuine.

Clay smiled weakly. "Yeah, I am too."

"Wait, but why is he at your house?"

I looked at Clay. He gave me a nod but didn't seem to want to explain it himself, so I took a deep breath before saying, "He got kicked out. We've been dating - er, sort of - since Monday, but since he was suspended, we could only talk to each other through text and call. And then yesterday, his mom took his phone, and... well, you can imagine."

Nick looked furious. "That's fucking bullshit. I'm glad he's with you guys now."

"Me too," Clay said. "I went 2 days without sleep before that because she made me sleep outside."

"For real?" Nick said, mortified. 

I frowned. "Yeah. It was like he was drunk when he came over."

"Sorry," Clay apologized sincerely.

"Don't worry about it."

After a moment, Clay said, "But... yeah, that's basically everything. I got kicked out and now I'll be living with George for the foreseeable future." 

"Nice. Take good care of each other, okay?"

"That's what we've been doing, I think." Clay said, looking at me questioningly. I nodded in agreement.

"Alright. So... what do you want to do next?"

"I dunno. I mean, Clay doesn't really have any clothes besides the ones he's wearing now, so... do you guys want to go shopping?"

"Oh, you don't need to do that," Clay muttered. "My dad's bringing some stuff around tomorrow anyway..."

"But I want to give you a gift."

"It's fine."

Nick snickered. "C'mon, just let him simp for you."

"I- we're already dating! Is it even simping anymore?" I said, flushing pink.

Nick opened his mouth to argue but closed it again. Defeatedly, he said, "Good point."

Clay shook his head, chuckling. "Oh, alright. Let's go."

We went to Macy's, going to the clothes section. There weren't many interesting clothes, so we were searching for a while.

As I browsed some of the racks with printed shirts, Clay came up next to me. 

"Everything going okay?"

I smiled. "Yeah. Clay, I'm so glad you came yesterday. Really."

"WHAAAT?" Nick said, a little loudly.

"What- Oh my God, Nick, not like that," I said, blushing. "That's what my mom thought this morning, too. When she walked in on us."

Nick wheezed. "What sort of position did you two have to be in for her to think that it wasimplying anything?"

"N-Nothing really! We were just... cuddling..."

"Mhm."

I clicked my tongue. "You're so annoying- Ooh, look at this one, Clay!" I held out a shirt with a cool design on it. The shirt itself was black, but the print was my favorite part. It read "Straight Outta The Closet" in the design of the "Straight Outta Compton" logo, but instead of being white, it was rainbow.

"Oh my God, it's perfect," Clay gasped.

I filed through the shirts, looking at the sizes. "What's your shirt size?"

"XL."

I picked out one of the ones at the bottom. "Jesus Christ, you're huge. I mean, I knew you were tall, but still."

Nick was holding back laughter. "George, phrasing. Like, I get what you mean, but... phrasing."

I rolled my eyes as I held the folded shirt in my arms. "Shut up." Turning back to Clay, I asked, "What sort of pants do you want, babe?"

"Um... I think I can probably just wear these ones." He indicated the black jeans he had on.

I was honestly fine with just getting him the shirt, so I agreed. "Okay then. Let's go pay and get out of here."

I paid for the shirt and declined to use a bag since it was just the shirt. The total was about 20 dollars, which wasn't half bad. It might have been discounted since pride month wouldn't be for another couple of months.

As we walked out of the Macy's, we were chatting and laughing about the inappropriate jokes we made. We started to turn the corner to go down the escalator, but Nick pushed Clay back behind the corner.

"What-" Clay asked, confused, but Nick shushed him.

"Shit. Clay, I don't know how to say this, but... your mom's here."

My heart dropped. I looked at Clay, who seemed scared. Furious, I asked, "What the fuck? Why is she here?"

Nick sighed. "It's the mall. I guess she just decided to go shopping."

"What should we do?" I asked helplessly to both Clay and Nick.

Clay took a shaky breath. "We should just go. Worst case, if she sees us, we run."

I was skeptical. "Are you sure?"

"Better than staying here for the next 5 hours waiting for her to leave," Clay assured me. "Let's go."

Together, we crept out from behind the corner. I looked around for Clay's mother, and sure enough, she was standing in front of the makeup shop on the second floor. There was another girl with her who looked much better-natured, who I recognized to be Clay's sister, Cassie. She was in freshman year and was actually really protective of Clay, even though he said it was kind of annoying. To my dismay, she was looking at the three of us as we emerged.

Cassie's face looked a little concerned before she turned to her mom and said something. I prepared to start running.

However, what I wasn't expecting was for Cassie to lead her mom toward the other side of the mall, walking away from us. I heaved a sigh of relief, but I seemed to be the only one to notice, as Clay and Nick had already reached the escalator.

I caught up to them and went down a few steps so we were standing closer. Clay looked pale and worried, reminding me of his sudden arrival yesterday.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked, sidling past Nick so I was on the same step as my boyfriend.

Clay put his hands to his temples. "I... I dunno. It's... I just wasn't expecting to see her today. I had wanted to forget about it."

"Clay..."

As usual, he started apologizing. "I'm sorry-"

"Please don't be. It's not your fault. None of this is," I assured him, cutting him off.

We stepped off the escalator and continued walking in silence until we were all outside the mall. Clay stopped by a bench and sat down, resting his head in his arms.

He continued to spill his worries to me. "But... I'm still making it hard on you by being here. You shouldn't be afraid for your safety just by seeing my mom."

I sat down next to him, carefully putting a hand on his thigh. Nick stood beside the bench, seemingly not wanting to sit down with us. "It's not about her, Clay. It sucks that we have to deal with her, but when it comes down to it, she's not the one deciding."

There was a moment of somber silence as Clay's frown turned into a sad smile. "How are you so good at this? Having meaningful conversations?"

"You don't think I'm confused too?" I chuckled, squeezing his thigh. "I've never dated anyone before you. I'm learning just as much as you are."

"I just wish... I could be like you. You're so much better than me at talking about this."

I shook my head. "That's not true, Clay. You do great too." 

"I'm worried that I'll let you down someday," he choked. "That I'll say something wrong and..."

I started getting a little emotional myself, wiping away tears in my eyes. "Nothing would make me stop loving you."

"But I'm still scared..."

"Then we'll talk through it together, right?"

"Yeah." He leaned his head on my shoulder. I was a bit nervous, but we weren't near the main entrance of the mall and the bench itself was also out of the way, so nobody could see our position unless they got really close. 

After a moment, I asked, "Do you wanna go home?"

He gulped. "Yeah."

"Alright. Nick, is it okay if we go?"

Nick wiped away some tears in his eyes. He was crying, but he had a huge smile on his face. This was an expression that I never thought I'd see on Nick, even as one of his best friends. "Oh my God, of course. I know I make all these jokes, but... you guys are really adorable together. I may not be good at sappy stuff, but I promise, I'll support you in any way I can if you guys need it. Always."

I helped Clay get to his feet. "Thanks. We can talk more later, but... you really are an amazing friend, Nick."

"Stop, you're making me blush," he joked, although he genuinely sounded like he was about to start sobbing.

I guided Clay home, going a little quickly to avoid the rush of kids starting to come home from school. I clutched the new shirt in my left hand, while my right was intertwined with Clay's. He looked like he was starting to feel better, and by the time we got home, he was positively ecstatic.

My mom noticed that I had a shirt in my hand and said, "Oh, that's a wonderful shirt!"

"I got it for Clay."

"That's sweet of you. Do you want me to wash it? I was about to do a load anyway."

"Okay." I passed her the shirt and watched her whisk off to the laundry closet. Soon, I heard the whir of the washing machine. She came back and smiled happily.

"So, how was it?"

"It was..." I trailed off, I looked at Clay. "It went fine."

My mom wasn't buying it. Narrowing her eyes, she said, "Okay, what happened?"

"Um..." I didn't want to say, but Clay stepped up.

"My mom was there."

My mom immediately started speaking indignantly. "Oh my God, are you okay? Did she try to talk to you? Do I need to-"

"No, it's fine. We got out of there."

"Good."

Clay and I went back up to my room and sat down on the bed, side by side. He placed a hand on mine and squeezed it.

"George, you're just... so amazing. Thank you so much."

I placed my other hand on his, now holding his hands in both of mine. "Anything for you."

We stared into each other's eyes for a while. Clay was beaming wider than I was. I rarely got to see this side of Clay, but it was a side I liked. 

After a moment, Clay asked, "Do you want to play something?"

"Sure. What do you want to play?"

"Nothing too intense, really. Just want to calm down."

"Hmm... I have Mario Odyssey, and that has 2 player."

"Sounds great."

I reached over to my Switch, popping open the cartridge slot and putting the currently-inserted Mario Kart 8 Deluxe cartridge back into its case before pulling out the bright red Super Mario Odyssey case and inserting that cartridge.

I turned on my switch and opened Odyssey. I left off on my 999 Moon solo save file, but I selected an empty file and started a new game. I passed Clay a Pro Controller and picked up my own as we watched the intro cutscene.

"I've never played this before," Clay admitted, flicking the control stick around.

"Really? This was one of the first games on the Switch."

"I was more into Breath of the Wild myself."

"Ohhh. Is it because Link is hot?"

"Wh- No! You're the only one who thinks that."

"But it's true! They made him, like, extra hot in that game. You can even make him wear nothing but underwear-"

"Whatever you say. Anyway, how does this work?" Clay asked. We had gotten to the beginning of the game where Mario was lying face-first on the ground. I ran over to meet Cappy, which started the 2-player game.

As Cappy joined the party, Clay was moving him around. "What do I do?"

"Wait, it might be better if I'm Cappy. Here." I held out my controller and we swapped so now I was controlling Cappy and Clay was controlling Mario.

Clay was walking around in circles, looking at the little control tips that popped up in the corner for advice. He eventually learned how to roll, which sped our movement up considerably.

We got into the tower before the first boss and Clay seemed a little confused. I tried explaining about the capture mechanic, but he had a better idea.

"Wait, let me try..." His face was set in concentration as he performed a precise set of movements: triple jump, wall jump, cap throw, dive, bounce, wall jump, cap throw, dive. This put him above the ledge where you would normally need to use a frog.

"Damn," I said. "You sure you've never played this game before?"

"Eh, I've watched some speedrunners do it."

"Jesus, I've never been able to do that."

Chuckling, he looked at the next jump immediately after the first. "Well, I don't think I can get this ledge first try, so let's go back for a frog."

I was a little shocked. "Even after that, huh?"

We played for a long time until the sun began to set, Clay being in an overall better mood. We were only on the Lost Kingdom, but that's because we spent a lot of time exploring.

"I think that's it for today," Clay yawned, stretching. I saved the game before closing it and turning off my Switch, leaning into my boyfriend's shoulder. He hummed and tilted his head back on mine.

"What time is it?" I asked to no one in particular. I felt Clay jostle as he pulled out his phone.

"About 6."

"Damn, it's late. We're probably having dinner soon."

As if on cue, I heard my mom knock. "Hey," I said, letting her know she could come in.

"How're my two lovebirds doing?" she asked.

"We're good," I said, laughing.

"It's almost time for dinner. Be down in 5 minutes."

"Okay," I said. My mom turned to go back out the door, leaving Clay and I together.

I looked at Clay. "Ready?"

"Yeah." 

We went downstairs to the smell of steak. I helped set the table and the 4 of us sat down, Clay and I on the same side facing my parents. The meal was filling - steak, asparagus, and mashed potatoes. We ate and talked happily until our plates were clean.

Finally, when everyone's stomachs were full, my mom said, "Oh yeah, I still have those things I got from the bakery. Let me get those."

She stood up and went to the large bakery bag, reaching down to pull out two small, plastic containers, each containing a cupcake. The special part - they were rainbow frosted with little heart decorations at the top.

"Mom!" I gasped. "They're amazing!"

Clay sounded hoarse. He was in shock. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

"No problem. Now, what are you waiting for? Dig in."

Gratefully, Clay and I bit into our cupcakes. The sweetness of the frosting was muted so it wasn't painful to bite into, while the thick chocolate batter tasted nothing but decadent. Perhaps it tasted so much better because it was a gift.

After we finished our dessert, my mom smiled at us happily. "Glad you enjoyed it."

"Thank you so much," Clay repeated.

"It was my pleasure. Now, go get some sleep, Clay. You still look exhausted."

"Alright," Clay agreed. "George, you coming?"

"Yeah. Goodnight," I said, to my parents.

"'Night, guys."

"Goodnight!"

I followed Clay upstairs and he collapsed onto my bed. Turning over, he said, "I could really use a shower."

"Oh, okay. Let me get you a towel."

He shook his head. "It's fine. I don't have any clean clothes anyway."

"We can just go straight to sleep," I suggested.

"So you liked that? This morning?" He sounded a little nervous. "I couldn't really tell if I was being too much."

"God, I loved it," I said, honestly. "I was just nervous at first, but... I liked the intimacy."

He chuckled. "Alright. I guess I'll hop in the shower real quick. Where are your towels?"

"They're in the closet in the bathroom."

"Okay." With that, he whisked out of the room and I soon heard the sound of the water being turned on.

The thought of Clay showering made me... excited, to say the least. I snapped myself out of it by scrolling through my phone and browsing social media.

Soon, Clay came back from the shower, the aroma of soap filling my room after him. He was in nothing but his underwear, holding his old clothes over one arm. His hair was still slightly wet and got in his face a little. He looked, to put it bluntly, hot.

I was already in bed, snuggled under the blanket. Clay walked over and sat on the side of the bed, smiling down at me.

"Hi."

I giggled. "Hi."

Silently, Clay put a hand to my cheek. I hummed and brought my hand up to grab his.

"Thanks again, George. For today," he said, quietly. "I needed that."

"No problem."

He pulled up the covers so he could wriggle under them next to me. He was facing away from me so I was sort of spooning him, which was more like a teaspoon cupping a tablespoon since he was so much taller.

I wrapped an arm around him, pressing my face into his shoulder gently. He smiled and closed his eyes with a hum. I did the same, slowly drifting off to sleep. Despite what had happened at the mall, this was probably the best I'd felt in years. And it was all because of Clay.


	18. Together

I was woken up by rummaging in my room. Slowly, I opened my eyes. I was still pressed against Clay's naked back with my arms wrapped around his pecs. I leaned up over his broad shoulder to see what was going on and saw my dad placing two laundry baskets of folded clothes by my closet.

He turned around, noticing I was awake behind Clay. "Oh. Morning, George."

I yawned. "Morning. What's up?"

"Just bringing up some of his clothes. Sorry I woke you up."

"It's fine."

My dad picked something up from inside the laundry baskets. "Could you have Clay read this letter when he wakes up?"

"Huh? Someone say my name?" Clay grumbled.

I giggled, pressing my nose into his hair. "Morning, sleepyhead."

"Morning, Gogy." He placed his hand on my waist and hummed.

"Aw, jeez, now you're both up. Sorry about that. I can go if you want-"

"Nah, I'm awake now. What about you, babe?" I pat Clay's chest softly.

"Me too," he said, yawning loudly.

My dad put his hands together. "Well, that works out nicely. The mattress is arriving at around noon, so we should start the new bed today."

Clay leaned up to sit against the headboard of my bed, letting the blanket fall to his waist. "Nice."

"But first, you should probably read this letter." He held out the sealed letter.  
"I'll have George help with breakfast-"

"Actually, um... I-Is it okay if he reads it with me?"

"Wait- You sure about this?" I asked, sitting up next to him.

"I'd feel better if you were reading it with me."

My dad shrugged. "Alright. I'll go make breakfast." With that, he went back downstairs, closing my door. 

Clay looked at me, letter in hand. Silently, he opened it and pulled out a paper that had been folded in thirds to fit in the envelope. The writing on it was small yet neat. It reminded me of Clay's handwriting if it were tidier.

_Clay -_

_I first want to start with an apology. I'm sorry for everything you had to go through and me not being there for you when things went wrong. I'm sorry I never noticed how horrible your mother was to you and Cassie. I'm sorry I tried to fix it by just buying you gifts and hoping for the best._ _I'm sorry I wasn't a real father to you._

_Expecting you to accept my apology would be way too much to ask for, at least right now. After all, I don't have any valid excuse for it. Right now, I'm happy that you're in the company of people who care for you better than I ever did._ _As your father, what I want is for you to be happy and safe. Therefore, I have worked out with George's parents that you will be staying with his family for the foreseeable future. If you ever want to come back, you are more than welcome to let me know - but I'm not expecting anything, and that's okay._

_I feel I should let you know that your mother and I are getting a divorce - or, more accurately, I'm divorcing her to get her out of your lives for good. Since I've shut it out for so long - that is, how she's treating you - it's the least I can do. If it comes to it, I'm ready to file a restraining order, too, since I wouldn't put it past her to continue to hurt our family._

_Clay, know this - no matter who you love or what you identify yourself as, you're valid. One more apology: I'm sorry if I made it seem like I was against those things in my feeble attempts to keep the peace in our household. To be honest, I might have truly believe those things because of it. No matter what I thought in the past, though, I 100% support you now._

_I'm lucky in a better position at work for spending more time with you all, and I'm planning to retire in a few years anyway._ _I_ _love you, Clay, and now I need to step up and prove it._

_Send my regards to George and his family._

_Signed,_

Clay's dad put his signature beneath the "Signed," but there was yet more text beneath it.

_Your father_

_P.S. As I prepared to seal this letter, I learned that your mother is blaming you for our separation. Whatever she may say, it's not your fault. She's just too naive to know that it's her own fault._

_Let me know if you need anything else._

Clay was pressing his hand to his mouth, tears welling up in his eyes. I couldn't make out what he was feeling from his expression.

"George..." he choked.

I was worried. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head. "N-Nothing, I'm just... happy. Really happy."

I wrapped my arm around his shoulders comfortingly and let him continue.

"It feels..." He trailed off thoughtfully. "I don't know how to describe it, really."

"That's fine. As long as you're happy, it's good."

"Yeah. Thanks."

He hugged me tightly, pressing his face into my chest. I ran my hand through his hair, patting it softly.

"So... Do you think you're ready to respond to him?"

Clay sighed. "I dunno. I want to forgive him, but... I don't know if that would make me gullible."

"I can't say for sure either." I took a deep breath, thinking about what the best advice would be. "But in my opinion, that note was definitely sincere. I don't think you need to worry."

"Yeah... I think so too. I'll think about what to write. Can... um... could you go for a bit? I just want to clear my head before writing this."

"Of course. Let me get some clothes on." I gently wiggled out of his grasp and walked over to put some clothes on. Clay pulled out his phone and started looking through messages.

"Wow. He was right about my mom. Come look at these text messages."

I pulled my pants the rest of the way up and hobbled over to Clay, still shirtless. The messages he was referring to were from his mom, and they were in all caps. It was awful, so much so that I gagged at some points. She was blaming him for his parents' divorce and calling him and me horrible slurs, saying that we would burn in hell. By the time I had finished reading, I felt just about ready to throw up.

"Oh my God, Clay..."

Clay shook his head. "No, it's fine. I don't need to care about what she has to think anymore. I have more people supporting me now. She's just another homophobe who just happens to be my mother. Look."

He opened another message, this time from his sister.

 **Cassie:** Clay I saw you at the mall  
 **Cassie:** Are u okay  
 **Cassie:** Moms being awful to you and i just want to say  
 **Cassie:** Dont listen to her  
 **Cassie:** Shes wrong  
 **Cassie:** Dad hasnt told me where u are just in case mom tries to pressure me but he told me youre safe  
 **Cassie:** So wherever you are  
 **Cassie:** Please stay there  
 **Cassie:** I support u all the way 🏳️‍🌈  
 **Cassie:** I hope youre staying with george  
 **Cassie:** Text me if you need anything

I smiled a little bit. It seemed that the only one against Clay in their family was his mom.

"I don't care about my mom anymore. I have you, your family, and lots of other people. So... thanks."

"You're welcome."

He looked at the time on his phone. "Sorry that took so long. You should probably go help with breakfast."

"Are you sure you're okay, Clay?"

"I am. Promise." He flashed a perfect smile. "I love you."

"I love you too." I brought him in for a warm hug before going to get my shirt on. With one last glance back at him, I left my room to help make breakfast.

My dad was happy for the help and soon, the scrambled eggs we were having for breakfast were ready and I went up to get Clay. He was still looking at his phone thoughtfully before he tapped something and looked up.

"I just finished it," he said, turning his phone off and bouncing up from the bed.

"Good. Breakfast is ready."

"Thanks." He walked up to me and grabbed my hands in his. I ran my hands down his sides, resting them on his waist. I pulled him in for a hug, nestling my head into the crook of his neck. He hummed and put his arms around my neck. We stood in the middle of the room like that for a while before breaking apart. Clay went to the laundry baskets as I went back downstairs to get breakfast.

When Clay came downstairs, he was wearing the shirt I bought him yesterday with a pair of light grey sweatpants. He sat down next to me at the table and we started eating along with my dad. When we had finished, Clay and I cleaned up the dishes together before my dad asked us over to the living room.

"You guys ready to build a bed?" he asked, smacking the box like a stereotypical car salesman.

"Uh, sure?" I said, giggling.

"Good. Now go clean up your room," he ordered.

"Okay."

Turning to Clay, my dad said, "And Clay, while George is doing that, let's open this box and bring the parts upstairs."

Clay nodded agreeably. "Got it."

As they went to the box, I turned to go upstairs and tidy up my room. I started with my clothes, setting the pile of mine and Clay's dirty clothes off to the side. I then made sure the floor was cleared of anything else, picking up some small objects and putting them on my shelf. By the time I had finished, Clay was bringing the first bunch of bed materials up. He seemed impressed by my work before going back down to get the rest of the pieces.

Once we had a pile of miscellaneous fragments for the bed, our attention turned to my current bed. My mattress was being taken when the new mattress arrived, but the one beneath my bed was staying. We stripped both of those and put the old sheets with my other laundry. The mattress we weren't keeping was going to be handed to the mattress people when they arrived. 

We were now left with a completely empty bedframe on one hand and a stack of pieces for a new one on the other. I was a little confused on what we were going to do with the old bed, but it turns out we were just going to disassemble it put it out with the trash. Doing that was surprisingly easy, leaving us with just one more thing - assembling the new bed.

As it turned out, this task was very painful. There were tons of different screws of varying sizes and the labels differentiating them were minuscule. In addition, the instructions were picture only, and some of the drawings were outright obscure.

In the middle of construction, when the three of us were starting to get frustrated, my dad got a text saying that the mattress people were arriving.

"Keep working on this, guys. I'll go handle that." He whisked out of the room, leaving Clay and I poring over the bizarre instructions. Our next step was seemingly to attach the headboard to the bed, and the instructions depicted two people working on it together.

"You think we got this, George?" Clay asked, nervously.

"I think so."

"Okay. Ready?" 

I nodded.

Clay took a deep breath. "3, 2, 1..." 

I grunted in exertion as I picked up the headboard from one side while Clay picked up the other. We slowly slid it onto the other part of the bedframe, quickly using the wrench to secure the nuts onto the exposed bolts keeping the headboard attached. I fell back, admiring our work. 

After catching our breath for a bit, we continued to work on the bed. Luckily, the next direction was a simple, monotonous task of attaching the two side supports for the mattress, which required screwing in 16 separate screws. Luckily, we could work on this in half the time due to having 2 screwdrivers and 2 people. 

Eventually, my dad came back and commented, "Looks good, boys. Can't be too much left now."

As it turned out, there _wasn't_ all that much left. After some more screwing things in and scraping ourselves a few times on the cold metal, the bedframe was complete.

"Okay, we're almost done. One more thing - where do you want your bed? If you want it anywhere different, obviously."

"Oh, um..." I looked around my room curiously. The corner where my bed used to reside was where the wall across from the door and TV met the wall with the window on it. However, this seemed awkward with such a bigger bed, so my idea keeping it on the wall across from the TV but leaving it in the center. However, it was too intruding if we put it perpendicular to the wall, so I settled on having it be parallel to the wall. Clay seemed to like the idea and my dad didn't really care, so that was where we left it.

We were all satisfied with our work, but we still had a lot more to actually do in the form of the mattress and sheets. The mattress was by far the harder project, but after lots of finicky maneuvering and Clay almost falling down the stairs more than once, we managed to get it into my room and onto the empty bedframe. The sheets were easier, as all I needed to do was, well, make a bed. The dark blue sheets were soft and, since they were brand new, completely stainless. 

When all was said and done, we had a new bed ready for use. I collapsed onto it and sighed.

"This is so comfortable," I gasped, rolling over. "I feel like falling asleep right now."

"Wait for me," Clay joked, climbing into bed with me. I heard my dad silently leave through the door as Clay laid down next to me. "Wow, you're right."

I put an arm around his chest loosely, pulling him in closer. He returned the half-hug, smiling warmly. I closed my eyes and started to fall asleep, but Clay shook me awake.

He giggled. "C'mon, you can't fall asleep now. It's, like, 1 PM."

"Mmm, but this is so comfortable," I said, yawning. 

"Yeah, but we need to have lunch." He cupped a hand to my face, massaging my cheekbone with his thumb. I reached up and grabbed his hand, intricately weaving my fingers between his. We brought our entwined hands down to our waists, sitting soundly on my new bed. Or was it our bed now?

Whatever it was, it was comfortable, and despite Clay's warnings, I slowly started to drift off. Clay seemed to be dozing off himself, as he nuzzled his head into my neck. I snuck my hand into his hair before inevitably falling asleep with him in my arms.

I was woken up by loud knocking at the door and my mom's voice ringing out, "You boys asleep in there?"

I decided to ignore it, still cuddling Clay tightly. My mom opened the door slightly, peeking her head in. I looked at her, but tilted my head down to hug my boyfriend tighter. My mom opened the door and crept towards us before saying, "Could you get up, boys?"

"Huh?" I said, groggily.

"Um... it's time for dinner. Plus... well, you'll see."

I blinked. "Wh- how long have we been asleep?"

"I'm not sure, but at least since I came back from work."

"Oh." I shook Clay's head gently. "Get up, babe."

Clay hummed and opened his eyes. My mom left the room, presumably leaving us to come down on our own.

"What's up?" he asked, yawning. I let go of his figure and clambered over him.

"Dinner."

"Okay." We left to go downstairs and have dinner, but to my surprise, there was someone whom I didn't immediately recognize by the front door.

He was balding with greying hair, looking to be just a little bit older than either of my parents. Glasses were perched on his nose, and he seemed like he would have been very tall in the peak of his height but had since shortened with age. I looked at Clay to see if he had any idea, and judging by his expression, he definitely did.

"D-Dad?"

I was shocked. I honestly thought it was just a work friend of one of my parents or something, but this man was Clay's dad.

"Clay, I..."

There was a tense silence in the room as the two looked at each other. Clay's dad's expression was somber and even a little scared. On the other hand, Clay's face flashed through several different emotions, ranging from confusion to anger to eventually landing on a somber sadness.

"Dad..." Clay repeated, taking a step towards his father. Suddenly, he burst into a quick pace, and in two strides was at his father, giving him a huge hug.

"Woah, there," Clay's dad said, struggling to regain his balance but returning the hug. Clay was taller than his dad, though the difference wasn't as stark as it was with me.

Clay was sobbing into his father's shoulder, his chest rising erratically with his rapid, harsh breaths. His dad looked emotional too, but he wasn't crying like Clay was.

My family let them have their moment, the three of us standing next to each other. The sight warmed my heart considerably. Even if I didn't know why Clay's dad was at my house, I was happy that Clay could see him and say what he needed.

After calming down a little bit, Clay sniffled. "Wh-Why'd you come? Don't y-you need to be at home?" He was still crying, which made him stutter on a few words.

"I just wanted to check up on you. After that text you sent... I didn't deserve that. Thanks for forgiving me, Clay."

"Dad... it's okay."

"You guys are having dinner soon, right? I don't want to intru-"

My mom cut him off. "Stay as long as you need. This is a precious moment."

The older man sighed and turned his gaze to me as Clay pulled back a little bit, wiping his eyes and nose. "George, um... I'm Clay's dad."

"Yeah."

"I don't know what he's said about me, but..." he smiled sincerely. His expression didn't have any malintent, just genuine happiness. "Well, it's nice to meet you, George."

"Nice to meet you too, um... Mr.-"

"You can just call me Todd."

"Okay."

Todd continued speaking. "Thanks for - and this is for all of you - thanks for taking such good care of Clay. I hope him staying here isn't too much issue, but I truly believe it's better for him to be here than at my house."

"We understand, don't worry. These two really click, so that makes it a lot easier."

"Glad to hear it." Todd turned back to his still-sobbing son. "Are you feeling better, son?"

"Y-Yeah," Clay sniffed. "I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, Clay. Now, you all should probably have some dinner."

"B-But..."

"I'll see you another time, I promise. If I'm being honest, I can't be out long. There's still... a lot I need to deal with back home."

"Okay..." Clay backed away and walked to me, hovering shyly by my shoulder.

"Thanks again, guys. Still up for coffee on Wednesday?"

My mom nodded. "Sure."

"Alright. See you then."

With that, Todd opened the front door and returned to his car parked outside. Through the storm door, I could see him drive away before my mom closed the main front door and looked at Clay and me.

"Clay, how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling great. Just... really, really great. Thanks so much."

"That's good. Are you ready to have dinner?"

"Yeah. Let me just get some tissues."

Clay went to blow his nose and wash his hands as the rest of sat down. He soon joined us and together, we ate in somber silence. After cleaning up, Clay and I went upstairs, ready to go to sleep because we had school tomorrow.

As I snuggled into my new bed in my underwear, Clay joined me. I spooned him gently, wrapping our legs together for extra comfort. Clay hummed happily before I felt him slowly fall asleep. I soon followed, thinking drowsily.

Being together like this is truly perfect.


	19. No More What Ifs

"George."

I was woken up by the soft voice of my boyfriend. I opened my eyes slightly to see him smiling at me with his clothes already on.

"You gotta get up."

"Mmm," I groaned, tiredly reaching an arm out for him. He chuckled and cupped a hand to my cheek.

"C'mon, we gotta go. I can't miss my first day back."

I opened my eyes fully and chuckled. Clay had always been a prudent student - while I most often got B's with the occasional A or C, Clay pretty much got all A's with the occasional B.

"Fiiine," I yawned, sitting up on the bed. I reached over for my pants and slid them on haphazardly before tossing on a plain white t-shirt. Clay was sporting gym shorts and a tank top, something that I had never seen him wear. And, to be honest, he looked pretty hot in it. However, it turned out he was just going to wear his hoodie over it, explaining why I probably had never seen it.

When I got down, I noticed that Clay's backpack was by the front door next to mine. I guess his dad must have left it when he came by yesterday, since it wasn't there yesterday morning. 

I went to the pantry and hastily grabbed my lunch components. As I was about to close the pantry, though, I remembered about Clay.

"Oh, um... Clay, what do you want to have for lunch? I think we have cold cuts for sandwiches." My school lunch materials varied slightly every time my parents would go to the store, hence why I wasn't certain.

"I'm fine with anything, so long as you have the time."

"I do. Could you pass me our lunchboxes?"

"Yeah." He gently tossed both of our lunchboxes at me and I somehow managed to catch them. While I was working on packing my usual lunch twice, I could tell Clay was helping make breakfast, meaning we'd have both today.

"Strawberries or grapes?" I asked, looking at both choices in the open fridge.

"Strawberries."

I added some sliced strawberries to two plastic containers, sealing them and placing them in our lunchboxes. All I needed to add now was the cheese, ice pack, and water bottle.

As I was getting those things out, my boyfriend rummaged around in the silverware drawer. Almost exactly as I closed our lunches, Clay announced, "I think I finished the cereal."

I looked behind me and was happy to see two bowls of cereal at the table. To my surprise, he had even chopped up a banana to add in, something that I would only ever do on weekends when I had the time.

"Thanks," we said simultaneously, followed by a few seconds of awkward silence as we took in what just happened. Then Clay started laughing and soon, he was wheezing. I was giggling too as I sat down at the table to eat my cereal.

Once Clay calmed down a little bit, he also joined me in eating breakfast. We both finished at about the same time, but we needed to start walking to school, so I just told Clay to leave the dishes in the sink and we'd deal with them later.

We grabbed our bags and lunches before heading out, feeling happy and satisfied. The sky was bright and cloudless, and it felt nice to take it all in. I looked at the road thoughtfully, wondering.

After about a few yards, I asked, "What do you wanna do about school?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, do you want to keep it a secret, or..?"

"I dunno," he shrugged. "I mean, I'm honestly fine with it coming out, but I also don't really want to announce it to everyone." 

"That's how I feel too. So we should probably just keep our affection verbal."

"Yeah. But we're not at school yet, so..." He grabbed one of my fingers loosely, giving me a look. I nodded in consent, turning my hand to grab his. We entwined our fingers together loosely, sticking close like last time.

When we arrived at school, though, we slid our hands back into our pockets and made our way to homeroom. This marked the beginning of a surprisingly uneventful school day. People were happily welcoming Clay back as they passed us in the hallway, but other than that, things went as usual.

At lunch, we sat with our relatively new group of six, taking about the SMP world we had made.

"Wait, you guys started a survival world?" Clay asked.

"Oh, yeah. I meant to tell you. Sorry."

"It's okay. Wanna do that today?"

"Sure," Bad said happily. "Can everyone do it today?"

The rest of us said "Yeah" or just nodded in affirmation. When all was said and done, we finished lunch and returned to class.

Soon enough, the school day was over and Clay and I were walking back to my house, our hands slipping together quickly. We both looked at each other, making sure that it was okay with the other. After confirming that, we walked in silence until we got through the front door and went up the stairs together. My dad was in his office and my mom was at work, so we didn't see either of them.

As I opened the door into my room, I took a seat on my bed. Clay looked at me in slight confusion.

"Whatcha doing?"

"Sitting," I answered. "Care to join me?"

"What about the survival world?"

"We can join later. They're probably not ready yet."

Smiling, Clay sat down on the bed with me. I moved up to the headboard, gently holding on to his waist as he sat cross-legged in between my legs, facing me. I laid my head on his shoulder, loosely wrapping my arms around his neck. He placed his hands on my thighs, running them up and under my shirt. I shivered.

"Is this okay?" he asked. 

"Yeah," I whispered. I felt his hands around my chest, caressing my sides softly. His hands then moved to my back, finding their way up towards my neck, where they stayed rested around my shoulders. I hummed happily, leaning more into my boyfriend.

After a few minutes of cuddling, Clay sighed, "We should probably hop on Minecraft."

"You're probably right," I agreed, bringing my head back. I gazed at his perfectly green eyes before my gaze fell to his lips. He smirked, noticing where I was looking.

"Can I give you a kiss?" he asked, removing his hands from under my shirt.

"Yes," I said, with a tinge of desperation. He placed his hands on my cheeks and pulled me into a quick yet passionate kiss. The feeling consistently calmed me down and made me smile, and now was no exception.

After we broke apart, Clay mentioned, "Wow. It's really hot in here." 

"Oh, um... I guess?" I didn't know if he was trying to insinuate something or was talking literally. My house did get pretty hot in the summer because my family kept the A/C from running high to save on the electrical bill.

He ditched his hoodie, leaving him in his tank top and shorts. I guess he did mean it literally.

I took a seat at my computer and Clay sat on the floor, rummaging around for his laptop. He soon pulled it out and scooched next to my chair. We turned on our respective computers and opened Discord. We had several missed messages from our group chat, since they had already started the call. Looking at Clay, I joined the call and I saw that he did too.

"Hey, guys!" Bad said happily. "We were wondering where you were."

I connected to the survival world, saying, "Sorry. We were just... um..."

"Cuddling," Clay finished carelessly.

"What?" Zak asked, obviously confused. Alex was on mute, so he typed the same in chat.

"Wait-" Clay stuttered. "Shit. I guess we can't hide it now."

"At least it's just them," I chuckled. "Yeah, Clay and I are dating now." Personally, I had no issue with Zak and Vincent knowing, but Clay was definitely being a bit too careless. 

"I don't hear Nick or Bad saying anything. Do they know?" Zak asked.

"Yeah," Nick said. "But I don't know about Bad."

"I know," Bad assured them.

"Well, then. I'm happy for you guys," Zak said.

"Thanks."

"Thank you."

I watched Clay pop into existance nearby spawn. Though I had acquired some tools for both Clay and I last time I played, Clay didn't have a house yet. Everyone wanted to go to sleep because no one had good enough tools to securely fend off for an entire night, so I made a lime green bed with dye I bought from a wandering trader and placed it next to my own one.

"Aw, George," Clay cooed. "Thank you."

I blushed a little bit. "You're welcome."

"What did he do?" Bad asked, sounding very curious.

"He put our beds together."

"Awwww!" Bad gasped. "That's adorable!"

"You guys are too wholesome," Nick snickered. 

Laughing, Clay said, "I wouldn't say that."

"What's that supposed to-" Zak started, but he stopped. "Actually, I'd rather not know." 

Nick giggled. "I'd _really_ rather not know."

I rolled my eyes, despite them not being able to see me. "It's not like that, guys."

"I hope so," Bad said. "You've only been together for a week; make sure you're not going too fast."

I looked back at Clay, who shrugged. "I think we're doing pretty well at that."

"Good."

The six of us played for several more hours, and in that time, most people managed to get diamonds. Not enough for full armor anything, but enough for enchantments. We were planning to go to the Nether next time we played, but for now, most of us agreed to stop playing for the day.

We stayed on call and chatted for a while. Clay and I explained his circumstances and how he got to my house, leaving out some of the less wholesome details. They were all pretty sympathetic, and we shared some laughs to the stories we had about each other. Soon, though, we all got tired of that, so everyone started to leave the call.

"Bye, guys!"

"Bye!"

"See you."

The many dings of people leaving the call were silenced when I, too, left the call. I spun my chair around to face Clay, who had already shut his laptop.

"That was fun," he grinned.

I nodded. "Yeah. I wasn't too worried, but I'm glad they took it so well anyway."

"Me too. What do you want to-"

He was cut off by my mom calling from downstairs. "Boys! Dinner!"

Not wanting to be late, we both promptly went downstairs and helped set the table. After that was done, everyone sat down at the table, digging into their meal.

"Clay, how long are you willing to stay here?" my mom asked.

"Um... as long as you're willing to keep me, I guess."

"We'll keep you for as long as you like, Clay," she assured him. 

My father sighed. "Your dad said things are not going too smoothly. It's hard for him to make progress on any part of the situation."

"Oh."

"But, like she said, feel free to stay for however long you'd like," he continued. "We're not going to force you to leave unless you're ready."

"Thank you."

The rest of dinner seemed happy, and soon, our plates were clean and Clay and I were going back up to my room. I was honestly pretty tired, and it seemed like Clay was too. I kicked off my pants and laid down in bed in a t-shirt and underwear.

"Care to join me?" I asked, rubbing the mattress next to me. Smiling, Clay stripped down into his underwear and cuddled into bed with me. I tossed the blanket over us both.

Clay looked at me and smiled. "George, can I tell you something?"

"Yeah."

"You're really fucking cute."

My cheeks flushed warm, but I said back, "You're really fucking sexy."

"You're also sexy." Clay snickered at my attempts to beat him in complimenting.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, you're also cute."

"Fine, you win," Clay pouted melodramatically.

I put a hand to his cheek before bringing his head closer to mine. He nuzzled his head into my neck gratefully, tossing his long arms around my chest. I brought my other hand up to his wrist and held it gently, running my thumb over the bottom of his hand. I pecked him on the forehead lightly before holding his head under my chin. I felt both protective and safe at the same time as I held on to my tired boyfriend.

Clay gripped onto my shirt tightly. "Can we stay like this?"

"Of course."

We cuddled together closer, entwining our legs together. Despite the light being on, we were both ready to fall asleep. 

Still holding onto his head closely, I said, "I love you, Clay."

"I love you too, George."

And those words made me feel like the luckiest boy in the world.


	20. Epilogue

I checked myself out in the mirror. I hadn't worn a suit in a long time and I sucked at tying a tie, but I didn't look half bad. I combed my hair to the side, slicking it up with gel. Deciding I looked good enough, I returned to my room to grab my formal shoes.

I sat down on my bed, sighing sadly. Clay had moved back to his house about a month ago after staying for over a year. I still miss cuddling in bed with him every night; my bed felt empty now. At least he'd be staying over tonight after prom, as we weren't doing anything the hours before.

Well, I call it prom - it's honestly just a basic school dance that they're calling prom. There's not very many traditional activities that would make it a prom.

I slipped on the shiny black shoes with some difficulty and they honestly felt a little too tight, but I'd be able to manage for however long this dance was. As I stood up, I smoothed out my suit coat and walked downstairs carefully.

"Oh, George! You look amazing!" my mom squealed, rushing over to fix my collar and tie. "Clay's going to be so impressed!"

"Yeah..." I responded as she tugged at the fixtures around my neck.

"Are you nervous?" she asked, straightening my tie and pulling it tighter.

"A little." Even though Clay and I had been together for over a year, I was still kind of scared to see him at such a huge event like junior prom. It's even more stupid because we had been looking forward to it for a couple of weeks now and talking about it all the time at school.

My dad chuckled from the kitchen table. "Well, it's always fine to be a little nervous, George. But I know you're going to feel fine once you get there."

"Thanks."

My mom finished fixing my attire and looked up at the clock. "It's almost time. You ready?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go, then."

The three of us stepped out to the car as I got in the back seat. My mom slid into the driver's seat and my dad sat down in the passenger seat. As we started down the road, my dad asked, "So you remember how tonight's going to work, right?"

"Yeah." Clay's dad was hosting a sort of social for the duration of prom that all the junior parents were invited to, and since my parents were going, Clay and I would walk back to my house on our own.

"Good. Be safe on the road, okay?"

"Got it."

I don't live very far from school by car, so within a few minutes, we were pulling into the parking lot. I fiddled with my collar nervously as my mom put the car in park. I took a shaky breath before opening the door.

Only portions of the school had their lights on, and from the side were on, we could only see that the hallway lights were on. The dance would be in the auditorium, which would mean I'd have a bit of walking to do before arriving.

Before I got out of the car, my mom asked, "Do you want me to walk you there?"

I blushed. "Mom, I'm 17!"

My mom giggled. "Relax, I was just kidding. Have fun and stay safe!"

"Okay," I said, rolling my eyes before turning to the school building. I took one step, then another. I finally relaxed enough to walk through the front doors and check in, following the signs around the doors.

The person checking everyone in was everyone's favorite teacher, Mrs. Blaire. She was sitting at the front desk with a clipboard and pen and smiled at me when I came in.

"Evening, George. How are you?"

"I'm fine. What about you?"

"I'm good." She looked down at her clipboard as she wrote my name down. "I don't think Clay's here yet, but then again, I'm just subbing while the receptionist goes to the bathroom."

"Okay." With a last wave, I took a turn down the hall toward the auditorium. There were some decorations in the hallway, but as I drew nearer, I could hear the loud music and talking from the much more festive auditoriun.

As I walked through the open doors, I looked around for anyone I knew. Near the back, I saw Nick with the date he got for tonight. I recognized her as Emily, and knowing her, I could see it working out.

"Hey, George!" he called.

"Hey, Nick. Hey, Emily."

"Hi!" Emily said, waving politely.

Nick looked around. "I haven't seen Clay anywhere. Do you think he's here?"

"Not yet, I guess." I wasn't doubting the fact that he would come, but I was still a little bit worried as the auditorium filled with more and more juniors.

I was talking to Nick and Emily when I suddenly felt large arms wrap around my shoulders and pull me in for a bear hug.

"George!" Clay said, burying his face in my hair. He couldn't rest his head on mine anymore; I had caught up to him in height, though only slightly.

"Clay! Where were you?"

"Traffic. Sorry, bubs."

"It's okay." I brought a hand up to his wrist and leaned my head into his arms, feeling his heartbeat.

He loosened his grip on me so I could turn around and hold his hands. I saw him flash his perfect grin as he moved his hands to my waist.

"So when's this thing gonna start?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Probably soon."

"Okay. Um... Where do you wanna stand?"

"Um... well, we should probably get toward the center, for one thing."

He nodded in agreement and I took his hand, leading him nearer to the center. What I wasn't expecting was to be jostled about until we got to the dead center, filling the small gap.

To add onto our misfortune, it was just then when the head organizer stepped up the microphone and adressed everyone in the room.

"Good evening, everyone! Glad you could all make it," she said, holding out her arms. "This marks the beginning of tonight's prom event. Please feel free to take pictures over to the side there. You can also head across the hall to the cafeteria for food. Otherwise, please enjoy yourselves!"

Everyone cheered and the music started playing again. Clay took my hands and looked straight into my eyes.

"Do you know how to dance, George?"

"I-I... um... not really..." I blushed shamefully.

He brought a hand up to my cheek. "Don't worry. Follow me."

Before I knew it, Clay was guiding my arms and stepping to the rythm. I stumbled around him, but he stopped stepping to tell me, "You're tripping. Don't overthink it."

"O-Okay..." I took a deep breath to calm my nerves before continuing. I took a few steps to match Clay's, and soon, we had a good rythm going. Clay squeezed my hands as he led me in a simple dance. As I got more comfortable, I looked around at the rest of the party. Many pairs of eyes were watching us. We were the center of attention.

My heart dropped. "Clay, people are staring..."

"Don't worry about them. Just focus on me, okay?"

I looked into his eyes. His perfectly green eyes that would reflect the starry sky on nights we spent together. His smile calmed me down enough so I could get back into the rythm.

The song ended and the DJ started to go to the next one. Clay ran a hand through my hair and brought my head into his chest. "You're doing great, George." 

"Thanks."

The next song was fast-paced and energetic, so Clay led me in a much swifter yet elegant dance. My heart raced as I tried to keep up, relaxing into the moves. When that song ended, I panted a little bit. I felt danced out already.

"You okay, George? Do you want to go eat?"

"Um... one more song, if that's okay."

"Okay." He took my hands again as the next song started. This one had a medium tempo but was calmer than the previous one. We danced slowly and with passion, spinning around each other as I fell into his arms. I felt lightheaded in a good way, but I had to come back down as the song ended.

Clay rested his hands on my shoulders and stared into my eyes. "Feeling better?"

"Much better," I said, grinning. "Thanks."

Clay looked toward the doorway on the left, closer to where we were. "Let's go eat, yeah?"

"Yeah."

Clay brought me to the cafeteria, which luckily wasn't very crowded yet. A few solo flyers and maybe three couples were already there, including Bad and his date, Alex. They had recently come out as nonbinary right after Bad came out as pan, so I wasn't surprised when they said they were together now.

"Hey, guys!" Bad said, leading Alex over, who looked happy to see us.

"Hey," they said, waving politely.

Bad was grinning excitedly, adjusting his glasses. "How are you guys? I saw you killing the dance floor out there." 

"Oh, that..." I chuckled awkwardly. "Well, I can't say I wasn't nervous."

Clay ruffled my hair wholesomely. "You did just fine, George. How about you guys?"

Bad shrugged. "Alex said they don't like to dance, so I took them here."

Alex nodded. They were pretty quiet most of the time, so having someone outward-going like Bad as their partner really worked out.

"Well, that's pretty much why we're here too. Only three songs in and George got tired."

I rolled my eyes. "Everyone was staring at us, Clay."

Alex shook their head. "They're just jealous. You guys are the best couple I've seen."

Now Clay was a little flustered. "Thanks."

"Have you guys eaten yet?" Bad asked. "We were going to grab some food soon, but we can do it together now."

"Nope. Let's grab some food before the good stuff is all out." Even now, more and more people were filling into the cafeteria. The four of us took off to the buffet tables and grabbed some food. It was standard buffet food, and it honestly reminded me of the trip we took last year.

Clay clearly thought the same. "This gives me flashbacks to that trip we took last year. Remember that?"

"Oh God, yeah. That was right before we started dating. I remember all of the weirdly romantic situations we found ourselves in."

"Yeah. Remember when I had to carry you?"

I nodded. "That was so embarrassing. I just wanted to pass out."

"Honestly, same."

Bad giggled. "I told you guys it would work out."

"Yeah, yeah. You were right."

"Why's he getting all the credit?" A familiar voice rang out behind us. "I was predicting it since freshman year."

"Nick!" I said, startled.

"Yes, I am!" He said, doing a strange set of poses that made his date laugh.

"Looks like we're all here," Clay chuckled. "Wait, Zak didn't come, right?"

Bad shrugged. "I think he's fine going solo for now. Maybe next year."

"Okay. Well, since we're all here, do you want to take some pictures or something after we're done eating?" Clay asked.

"Sounds good," Emily said.

"Alright," I shrugged.

"If Alex is okay with it," Bad responded, holding their hand protectively. They nodded agreeably.

Clay smiled. "Then it's settled."

We all ate the food pretty quickly and went back to the auditorium. Since we ate so early, the auditorium was a lot more empty than when we started since everyone was going to the cafeteria. We stepped off toward the side as Clay pulled out his phone.

He held it as far away from everyone as he could, barely managing to get all six of us in the shot. Throwing his arm around my shoulder, he said, "Here goes!"

He clicked the button a few times before bringing his phone back down to look at the picture. "This came out pretty well. Do you want me to send it to you guys?"

"Yes, please," Bad said.

Nick and I both shrugged. "Okay."

Clay looked down at his phone and I felt my phone buzz as the picture was sent to me. Once everyone received the pictures, Clay sighed.

"So what now?"

"I guess we can keep dancing." Nick took Emily's hand and led her towards the dance floor. Bad and Alex did the same, but Clay hesitated.

"I need to go to the bathroom," he said, giving me a look.

I understood the look, and I honestly felt the same way. "Me too, actually." 

We both left to go to the boys' bathroom a little down the hall. I opened the door for Clay and we both stepped into the empty bathroom.

We stopped in front of the sink, staring at each other. Clay raised his eyebrows and smirked as I smiled mischievously.

We clashed together, our lips meeting passionately as Clay ran his hands down to my waist, fiddling with the hem of my pants. I pushed his head to the side and started kissing his neck, moving his collar down for more access. I then slowly knelt down, looking up at him. My heart was pounding; this would be my first time doing anything like this, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want it.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Yes."

I started to undo his fly and pull his pants down a little when the door suddenly opened. I jumped up in milliseconds as Clay turned around to fix his pants.

"Jesus Christ, guys. Can't you wait 'til you get home?" Nick shielded his eyes as he walked in.

"Sh-Shut up," I said, flushing red.

He rolled his eyes. "I'm not the one who was about to have sex in the school bathroom."

"Whatever. Just do your business." I blushed deeper, wiping my lips on the back of my hand.

Nick snickered. "I will."

Clay, who had fixed his pants by now, was blushing too. "Um... let's go, George."

"You're actually taking this home?" Nick asked.

I giggled to alleviate the awkwardness. "Maybe, maybe not."

"Well, have fun with that."

Clay looked mortified as he silently left the bathroom. I followed him.

I tossed my arms around his shoulders, leaning into his neck. "At least it was just Nick."

"Really, though. Imagine how fucked we would be if it was, like, one of the chaperones."

"That'd suck."

"Anyway, _do_ you want to take this home? I don't want to cut this dance off too early, but there's honestly not much to do now."

I shook my head. Being walked in on by Nick had killed my mood. "Let's dance some more. I still have some energy left."

"Someone sure is confident." Clay took my hand. "Let's go."

He led me back out toward the dance floor. The current song was pretty slow. Clay grabbed my other hand and brought it into the air as we slowly stepped around one another. I leaned in closer to him, tilting my head upward to better see his face.

"You're so beautiful," I whispered.

He put his head to mine, our noses touching softly. "So are you."

We kept dancing somberly. Most couples were still in the cafeteria, meaning we had the dance floor mostly to ourselves. The dim lights gave the large room an empty feeling, like we were completely alone. I tilted my head to the side slightly as Clay did the same to meet for a soft kiss.

When we pulled apart, I ran a hand through his hair. "I love you."

"I love you too." He wrapped his hands around my waist, pulling me in for a hug. The music had changed by now, but I wasn't paying attention.

"Do you want to go now?"

"Yeah. Let's tell the others."

We went off to find Nick, Emily, Bad, and Alex. They were in the corner where we first saw each other, so we waved goodbye to them.

"Have fun," Nick called, waving broadly. I rolled my eyes at him, but Clay took my hand and started leading me down the halls. As Clay and I walked out of the school, he squeezed my hand. The June air was warm and still, and it felt hotter outside than it was inside. Looking at my phone, I saw that it was almost 10 PM. I felt exhausted.

By the time we had gotten home, I didn't even care about keeping my suit jacket unwrinkled. I just ran up to my room, tossed everything off, and slipped into pajama pants and a white t-shirt. Clay wasn't far behind as we scooped all of our fancy clothes together and flopped onto the bed. He was wearing the set he had brought with him - sweatpants and the "Straight Outta The Closet" shirt I got him last year.

Clay cupped a hand to my face. "Do you wanna watch a movie?"

"Sure, but I don't have anything set up on this TV. Let's go downstairs."

"Okay."

Clay got up first and hooked his arms under me, gently lifting me up so he was carrying me bridal-style. I hooked my arm around his neck, making it easier on him. He gently carried me downstairs, sitting down on the couch. I sat down next to him, leaning my head onto his shoulder. We both kicked our feet up and put them on the table for support.

He picked up the remote. "What do you want to watch?"

"Something fluffy."

"Hmm. Isn't there a gay Netflix movie that came out for Pride Month? Wanna watch that?"

I hummed, reaching out a hand for his free hand. "Sounds good." 

Clay opened Netflix and selected my account. The new movie was, unsurprisingly, first in the "Recommended for you" section. He selected it and we let it play, cuddling tighter as the opening played.

The movie was about two guys who met on the set for a play. When their feelings are getting close to coming out, the older guy gets selected to be the lead role's boyfriend, so then he has to pretend to love someone he doesn't. By the time it was over, I was crying lightly, but I was also slipping in and out of sleep.

"Clay?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"Can we just sleep here?"

"Yeah." Clay grabbed the remote and turned the TV off, cutting off the end credits. He put his arm around my shoulder as his other arm slithered to grab my hand. I closed my eyes.

"I love you, Clay."

"I love you too, George."

With that, I finally fell asleep, feeling more than satisfied. 


End file.
